The Profitable Choice
30/08/2026
My Last Sermon
Introduction
“And this I speak to your own profit”
We need to be sure to understand that Paul is writing to the CONTEMPORARY CHURCH in this letter. A Church that is contemporary to both the times and the culture they are most familiar with.
A Church that has been enveloped with the morals of the day to the point that they celebrated a type of fornication as is not so much as named among the gentiles (1 Cor 5:1).
Even “commonly reported” to have reached the ears of Paul in Rome.
1 Corinthians 5:1–2
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
“Commonly reported“, well known were the sins of the Corinthian Churches, Churches like our churches, of our times, in our culture….
TODAYS MESSAGE WILL BE A HARD MESSAGE TO ENDURE BELOVED. ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO WILL NOT CHOOSE TO PROFIT FROM THE LORD.
Paul’s desire was for the recipients of his letter to make a PROFITABLE CHOICE, as his letter to them CUTS TO THE HEART OF MATTERS.
This is why preaching faithfully and expositionaly through the Corinthian letters often have a divisive effect.
- Some convicted of heart and transformed to integrity in the inward parts. THESE CHOOSE TO PROFIT, and joy will fill their hearts.
- Some convicted of heart and hardened against the message bearer. THESE CHOOSE OTHERWISE, and IF THEY ARE CHRISTIANS, anger, strife and misery fills their hearts.
There is very little difference between the nature of the Christians in our churches today and the Christians in the churches of Corinth almost two thousand years ago.
In fact, in light of the Laodicean Church age we are in, in light of the apostasy spoken of, the “perilous times” which will come, todays Churches are perhaps far worse.
Paul was preaching TO the Corinthians and he was despised for it.
Pastors properly expounding Paul’s preaching, and applying it to many of todays Christians, will also be despised for it:
So be it, we do not injure you beloved, we SPEAK TO YOUR OWN PROFIT!
WE ARE often TODAY AS THEY WERE THEN, wilfully ignorant of our sins.
Offended at having our sins called out.
The language of our lips betraying the abundance of the heart;
We speak like the culture does, get offended and triggered at the drop of a hat like the culture does.
We like to think highly of ourselves and we lie one to another as we pretend to be mature Christians.
Our praying is to be heard of men.
Our fasting is to be known by man.
Our giving is as a trumpet sounded before us that all may know how “RIGHTEOUS” we are….disguising the sin within!
Blinded by our beams, we diligently search out the motes in the eyes of our brethren.
We think evil of our brethren. Condemn them for what we think they are thinking and then rebuke them for the thoughts we imagined they thought.
Sin invented in our hearts from others are then committed by our lips and our deeds against them!
But love “thinketh no evil” beloved. It “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked” writes this same apostle in chapter 13.
Such are the insecurities of the world experienced because they know not God, yet here are many Christians just as insecure who ironically claim to be justified by God.
“And this I speak to your own profit”. Says the scriptures
But We do not MAKE THE PROFITABLE CHOICE, and so we do not profit.
Men who can work and earn a living are getting paid by the government to stay idle.
The dole they earn protests to them every month that they are liars as they stake their monthly claims noting every job they APPLIED FOR.
“Liar” says the form. “Liar” cries the each entry in their bank statements. “Liar” cries every dollar they spend from that account.
If you did not get paid by your government for your laziness, would you not work?
A CHOICE is made, but the WRONG choice CAN NOT PROFIT THEM.
The love of money is the root of all evil, and you would claim to not fit that bill;
But your actions prove in WHICH you have made your choice.
You earn UNCLAIMED CASH and justify your sin in doing so, again LYING TO THE NATION every year, as Ananias lied to the LORD ONCE.
But they make their excuses and so CHOOSE NEVER TO PROFIT.
“In lust we trust” say they.
And so naturally they also steal from God, they will not give of their first fruits because they simply do not TRUST that he will PROFIT THEM.
These and so much more are addressed in the letters to the Corinthians beloved.
How will you fair?
Will you also hate the preacher as the Corinthians hated on Paul?
We hate on the preacher, thinking he has singled us out directly in a sermon. (I’m sure you guys have never done that).
Ignorant that we can often ALL provide fodder for the cannon of sound expositional preaching.
So too did the Corinthian Churches against Paul…so much so that Paul needs to remind them that he speaks to PROFIT THEM, not to offend them via an evil disposition.
The CHOICE to PROFIT from his letters was theirs.
HIs desire was to humble them before the one who is able to lift them up again.
- To become David’s rather than Jeroboam’s.
- To choose to have the tears of Hezekiah when rebuked by Isaiah, rather than the angered leprosy of Ussiah when rebuked by the priest.
- We forget the publican who smote his breast seeking forgiveness as a sinner, and too often choose to think as highly of ourselves as the Pharisee.
- But only one of those men “went down to his house justified” (You can read about it in Luke 18:10-14)
“And this I speak to your own profit” Writes Paul.
Beloved this I also preach to your profit, As God is my witness I always have and as he is my witness, if this be not my last sermon, I always will.
My desire is for you to know the LORD, to MAKE A PROFITABLE CHOICE, knowing the PRICKS of the Conscience is for your benefit.
The topics that come up in this book are challenging beloved.
- Your hearts will be convicted.
- Your countenance will change.
- You will be tempted to despise the preacher, or you will choose to examine yourselves.
The CHOICE IS YOURS, but only ONE of those choices will be profitable!
Profitable Service
1 Corinthians 7:35
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
Unlike that written to the Romans, Corinthians is not a doctrinal book, it is a book of rebuke.
Romans is a book on Doctrine, and “Reproof” must be found within to preach.
Corinthians is a book of reproof and “doctrine” must be found to preach.
Remember the flow of Scripture; 1/doctrine, 2/reproof, 3/correction and 4/instruction in righteousness. (AKA “Application”)
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Let me tell you why this matters to you;
At the end of this verse Paul writes his purpose for writing what he wrote; “that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction“.
Paul writes to their profit and needs to remind them of this lest they distract themselves with deflection, “not that I might cast a snare upon you” he goes on to say.
He does not wish for them to be ensnared through thinking evil of him. He will not flatter them, or lie to them.
We are living in a time when far too many Christians, including ourselves…all of us, often only wish to be told that which we want to hear, we want our sin AFFIRMED rather than reproved, we are today becoming exactly that which Paul warned would come;
2 Timothy 4:3–4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
We will speak more to the danger of this in the next point, but suffice to say that Paul realises the contemporary nature of this modern church and needs to ensure they know he is writing to profit them, not to ensnare them.
How does hearing only what we want to hear benefit you?
If the Prophet Nathan only told King David what he wanted to hear, would David have ever become the King he became?
2 Samuel 12:1–13
You recall the account!
“Thou art the man” said the brave prophet to the king in verse 7 of that passage.
David did not place him in bonds, as many did to the prophets which came later. David did not seek to kill Nathan for rebuking him directly as he did, no
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD….
That beloved is the response that cemented the throne of David.
Plenty of prophets were killed for exposing the sins of kings, but David chose to PROFIT from Nathans rebuke.
What about you?
The Profitable Service to you is NOT telling you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear.
THE CHOICE TO PROFIT FROM IT IS YOURS.
Will you make the profitable choice when your heart convicts you?
Unburdened Service
1 Corinthians 7:35
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
“Not that I may cast a snare upon you“.
I can only imagine what he had gone through.
His mind reeling. His heart beating in his chest. His sorrow and grief. His unwillingness to talk to his wife, to not see his kids. All he could think of is how to untangle himself from all that he had woven over the past ten to fifteen years.
His lies. One upon another, all of them seemed to benefit him. Its like the world truly wanted to believe him and they would not question him.
They originally ignored all the tell-tale signs and the TALL TALES HE TOLD.
They had their own reasons; goals that they set, purpose was given them. Profit was laid at their feet if this man’s testimonies were true.
They lifted him to the highest height….without a parachute, and let him fall.
The world now know his sin, but the last thing he would do is admit it.
The last thing he would do is say “I have sinned against the Lord“. And so, on the 14th of August, Jason Arday took his own life.
Ensnared by his own entanglements, DEATH was seen as BETTER THAN CONTRITION!
DEATH WAS THE LAST THING, Contrition and repentance would NEVER COME.
“Tragic on so many levels” said the Prime Minister of England.
A “Nathan” tried to point out the sin to the only organisation that had the authority to deal with it, Cambridge University, his employer.
He tried to do so quietly, but was rejected.
“…be sure your sin will find you out” says the Bible, and so Nathans multiplied, and the truth of his sins began to be known publicly.
David’s sin is known throughout the world and will be known for all eternity. Mr Arday’s sins were localised and will one day be forgotten.
David did not want to be ensnared and so confessed his sin that he might eternally be rid of it, in spite of the temporal consequences, Jason Arday chose to be snared by his sin and die with it, in eternity he will only ever be known by it.
This truly is “a tragedy on so many levels“!!!
The Prime Minister went on to say, “It’s not a moment for any rushing to judgement. It’s a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how things came to this”[1]
I had been following this story since early August when Cambridge University announced an investigation into the alleged plagiarism of their star professor, Jason Arday.
The Youngest Black Professor to ever hold a chair in the OXBRIDGE UNION OF UNIVERSITIES.
And I was truly, truly heart broken when I read the news that he was found dead on the 14thof August. They would not reveal the cause, but stated it was not suspicious. By this I also realised it was not by natural causes either.
So many were the sermons that flooded my mind that I could write of this.
So many are the examples of sin, and then of pride,
and how both can so easily lead to suicide when the one is entangled with the other so tightly that a snare the size of a mental Gordian knot would be tied, and the only way for it to be unravelled is to be cut straight through with the words;
“I have sinned against the Lord“
Psalm 51:17
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Wrote David the King to the Lord respecting that very sin Nathan reproved him of.
If the people who lifted up Jason Arday, would only have quietly let him down easily by revealing his sin to him and dealing with the matter, he would still be alive today.
A different career no doubt, but still alive and a father to his two children with life lessons to tell.
But instead, in protecting themselves, they allowed him to be lifted up higher and higher and the fall was nigh inevitable, and the tragedy great.
You can tell I am truly upset about this.
I am heart broken at how we refuse to call sin, SIN in the hope of protecting the sinner and in the end all we do is allow their lives to be destroyed, I have seen it already too many times, but this is the worst because this is where it ultimately ends.
OUR STUBBORNNESS to see our sin and to humble ourselves before the Lord CANNOT PROFIT US!
So STUBBORN that we would sooner cancel precious relationships with loved ones rather than admit to our sin.
We sacrifice every one else, but never the sacrifice of a contrite heart.
So STUBBORN that we would rather die than admit we have sinned.
Let me ask you a personal question brethren.
You feel offended because a friend, a family member, a brother or sister in the Lord, your pastor, anyone, has said something to you that you took offence to.
You read somewhere between the lines something never said, and decided to think evil of them because you think they intended evil against you, to “cast a snare upon you“.
And so you begin to hate on them or condemn them with a fault, but without a trial…you did not seek any clarification, you did not ask what they meant by what they said.
Who sinned in that instance? Who actually sinned?
Have you ever done this to someone? To a friend? A family member? A brother or sister in the Lord?
1 Corinthians 13:4–6
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
STOP THERE.
STOP ON “Thinketh no evil” for a moment.
Even if a friend, loved one, brother or sister in the LORD actually did point out your sin to you, the TASK that liberates you is to search your own heart respecting what was revealed….
If true, REPENT. “I have sinned against the Lord“
If false, REST.
It is not LOVE that thinketh evil thoughts, and you are commanded to LOVE.
If a friend, loved one, brother or sister in the Lord DID NOT intend to offend you, and yet you condemn them unjustly imagining they did so, you move from perceived victimhood to an arbitrator of evil thoughts.
YOU HAVE ACTUALLY SINNED.
Be careful beloved if you have fear of the Lord.
“Therefore judge nothing before the time….“
Guess which book of the Bible that quote is found?
1 Corinthians 4:5
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Beloved, those like Paul who point out your sins, do so for your profit not to cast a snare upon you.
Do not hold so tightly to what you prefer to think about yourself beloved, and learn that if you were not a sinner, Jesus would never have had to die for you!
Suitable Service
1 Corinthians 7:35
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
What Paul testifies to in both this passage and the entirety of the Letters to the Contemporary Churches of Corinth is suited to the purpose.
“Comely”, agreeable, suitable.
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely,
And he does to for a purpose, “that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction”.
He does not wish you to be entangled in your minds, distracted by matters that are not eternally beneficial, but would know that time is short and certain entanglements otherwise DISTRACT YOU FROM THAT WHICH IS GOOD.
2 Timothy 2:4
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Beloved, the direction of this sermon is given you today that you may know the entirety of the letter to the contemporary Church is to PROFIT YOU, not to harm you nor to cause consternation in you and to fall away from the Lord.
Corinthians, as stated last week, is going to convict us ALL of sin.
But if I take offence because I see myself in his letters, I CAN NOT PROFIT!
What he writes to me is SUITABLE, it is AGREEABLE, it is COMELY.
Please let me share the heart of a pastor who loves, or at least strives to love as Paul loved, as Jesus loved.
Paul was poorly judged by the Church, they thought evil against him;
1 Corinthians 4:3
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
Paul was not well received by the churches of Corinth because of his words.
2 Corinthians 10:9–10
9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. 10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
And again to the contemporary Church he was surely concerned that they would not hear his words and take them to heart trusting them written in love;
2 Corinthians 12:15–20
15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. 16 But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. 17 Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? 18 I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps? 19 Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. 20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
Beloved listen to me please;
Paul is one example.
Yet Jesus is the example of all shepherds. He is the pastor of all pastors and desired the salvation of his own.
What he preached was suitable to that which is good. Comley in both truth and intent.
If your desire is to change and grow, and put away the old nature and examine yourselves, you will be wonderfully blessed by Paul’s letters to the Corinthians Churches.
1 Corinthians 7:35
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
Focused Service
1 Corinthians 7:35
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
Our sin distracts us.
Our pride distracts us.
King David was distracted from his service to the Lord when he chose to remain behind at a time “when kings go forth to battle…But David tarried still at Jerusalem” (2 Sam 11:1).
David was the perfect example of distraction away from the focused service of the Lord;
It was a worldly pursuit that distracted him.
Sin distracted him, for “he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon” (2 Sam 11:2).
And his pride refused to see his sin for what it is, so much so that he could not even discern the parable given him by Nathan until his sin was directly pointed out with “thou art the man”.
Now beloved, I have not yet done that to you directly from this pulpit, though some of you have no doubt felt I had. Know of a certainly however that either way, the desire for you was to move you toward a FOCUSED SERVICE.
Free of guilt, that you may make a PROFITABLE CHOICE.
David’s sin had consequences, much of which came to pass many years later. God had made that clear to him;
2 Samuel 12:10–14
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
Nevertheless, his remorse and repentance for his sin had drawn him so close to the Lord that he is immortalised in scripture and had become the King by which ALL KINGS are measured.
Psalm 51
I tried to find a place to stop, but the Psalm is too perfect in its entirity.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
You cannot serve the Lord when compassed about, ensnared by sin in your life beloved. Guilt will one day overwhelm you and you will be distracted in any good service to the Lord.
Its snare will prevent you and your justification of it will hold you back.
The Actor Will Smith, several years ago committed a shocking violence against the host of the Academy Awards. In that act, his public bravado testified to the world that he is whipped by his wife and all respect for him was lost.
Had he truly repented of his sin to the world, the world would have forgiven him and his humility would have been a renown. But he would not and remains the fool of Hollywood.
He remains married to his domineering wife, but all respect for him as a man is gone.
Jason Arday took his own life rather than humble himself and admit to his sin. The universities that ought to have known better, persecute the Nathan’s of the world who pointed out the sinner, and so have also lost all credibility as astute universities.
Sin and Pride go hand in glove beloved.
They will separate you from relationships of those who love you and they will keep you miserable for life.
Worst of all, it will distract you from an eternally profitable service.
TO EXCUSE, KEEP OR HIDE YOUR SIN is a snare.
TO REPENT, CONFESS AND HUMBLE YOURSELF TO THE LORD IS LIBERTY.
THE CHOICE IS YOURS.
BUT ONLY ONE CHOICE WILL PROFIT YOU.
AMEN.
{$NOTE_LABEL} https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9982znvyk4o
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