I have finally settled on a book to preach
through. I was originally looking at
trying to spend a year in the Old Testament and highlight some of the major
stories. But on my heart was 1
Corinthians. Because the more I prayed and
the more I thought about us, our church—1 Corinthians seemed like the place we
need to go.
So here is the plan as of right now. We will go through 1 Corinthians together (it
will be our main text) and when we start reading the Bible together in April,
if s subject or story grabs me or interest you we can cover it.
Why Corinthians?
First I have always been drawn to the letter for some reason. I think it is reflective of the church today
and especially the church in America…in some ways. But mainly when we look at our church we have
many new believers and we have experienced some pains from change. As we move forward it is and will be
important to avoid the mistakes made by the Corinthian church. So what do we know about the Corinthians.
Introduction
to 1 Corinthians
We know that is was an important trade center for the
Romans. It was destroyed by them in 146 BC and a century later refounded as a
Roman colony. Because of its
geographical position, merchants and sailors would send goods through the city
because it was safer than navigating the water around Achaia. The city was busy and people from all over
passed through it. With them came goods,
but also ideas, different religious practices.
It had a reputation as being a city where any
goes. There were lush fields around the
city were grapes grew and there was famous Isthmus games held nearby. It was an important city, prosperous, and morally corrupt city.
One writer said this about Corinth: “The ideal of the Corinthian was the reckless
development of the individual. The
merchant who made his gain by all and every means, the man of pleasure
surrendering himself to every lust, the athlete steeled to every bodily
exercise and proud in his physical strength, are the true Corinthian
types: in a word the man who recognized
no superior and no law but his own desires.”
This is where a Christian church had been established
and Paul spent roughly 18 months there helping it get started. When he came to the city (Acts 18) he first
spoke in the Synagogue were the Jewish believers asked him to leave. Paul being who he was set up shop right next
door to the house “Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.” (Acts 18:7), where he
preached to the Gentiles and the church grew.
Even “Crispus, the synagogue
ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the
Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8).
After he left he visited the church once more for sure
and he wrote them four different letters, two of which we have in our Bibles,
and no one has ever found the other two.So what do we know about the church itself. It was a large church—many Corinthians had
converted to Christ. It was full cliques
and snobs, materialism had taken root in the church. It had both the very rich and the very
poor. At fellowship meals the rich kept
to themselves and the poor were left alone.
There was little church discipline and a very lax
attitude about morals and doctrine. Members
took part in the pagan religion around them, many of the religions were sexual
in nature. They were unwilling to submit
to authority, even Paul’s ‘credentials’ were questioned. There was a lack of humility and
consideration for others. Members were
taking each other to court and other members were flaunting there new found
freedom in Christ, regardless of the effects on fellow-believers.
They were abusing and ignoring gifts of the Spirit,
the church in Corinth was a mess. They
were not walking in a matter worthy of their calling and were spiritually
weak. Paul addresses these issues and more
in this letter.
Paul starts this letter by establishes himself and the
church as a whole, he is going to remind them who He is and who they are.
Paul Called
“Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and
Sosthenes our brother: 2 To God's church at Corinth, to those who are
sanctified in Christ Jesus and called as saints, with all those in every place
who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord--both their Lord and ours. 3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)
Paul first established his calling as an apostle of
Christ, by Christ’s will and not his own.
He is reminding them of his calling who
he was in Christ. This was
important because some of the believers actually questioned if Paul was an
apostle at all. He was going to address
issues in the church and he was reminding them of his authority, an authority
that came from Christ himself.
But he was also reminding them of a common link
between them. They were in Christ as He
was in Christ. Called by Christ, saved
by Christ, baptized in Christ, “There is
one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope at your
calling-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one
God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians
4:4-6).
To God’s
Church (v.2)
“To God's church
at Corinth, Paul again is reminding them that it isn’t their church in
Corinth, but God’s church. That they
belong to the entire body of Christ and there is only one body.
-Sanctified and Called
They were sanctified by Christ himself, set apart and
made holy through the cross. Christ who
also sanctified them, called them as saints (the set apart ones) or (it’s the
same word for holy). Then Paul drives
this point home by finishing the verse with these words, “with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord--both their Lord and ours.”
Grace to You (v.3)
Paul closes the opening remarks with verse 3 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul
reminds the reader everything is grace, they do not deserve anything from God
and yet He loves us.
“It was by grace
we were saved, But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He
had for us, 5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we
were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6
Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the
heavens, 7 so that in the coming ages He might display
the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. 8
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from
yourselves; it is God's gift—“ (Ephesians
2:4-8)
None of the Corinthian church deserved grace, but he
not only gives them grace but He also give peace, or shalom in the Hebrew.
-Peace from God
It was through Christ sacrifice that the church had
peace with God. No longer were they
enemies of God and objects of judgment and wrath, but now were at peace with
God, having received mercy, in that God didn’t give them what they did
deserve, but gave them salvation and peace through Christ. So what does this mean for us today?
You are God’s
Church
Firstly and most importantly you are God’s
church. First Baptist Church of Rocklin
is God’s church and is not Pastor Steve’s church and it doesn’t belong to any
of you either.
The church is not a physical building; it is the
people who make up the church. We have
been given a building and we have a responsibility to be good stewards of what
God has given to us and we should care for it to the best of our
abilities.
But we must keep in mind that if some terrible event
was to blow these buildings down, or if somehow the property was taken from us
and we were all evicted, we would still be a church. It is the body of believers who make up the
body of Christ.
This means we are also part of a larger body….the body
of Christ, which is spread out over the entire world. It means when the one part of the body
suffers the whole body suffers. When
Islamic gunmen riddle a church with bullets while it is in a prayer service in
Nigeria, killing ten people this last week it affects us all.
We are the church and we work together to share the
message of Christ with the world.
You are God’s
Sanctified and Called
You are called by God, saved and sanctified by the
precious blood of Christ. Therefore walk
worthy of the calling you have received.
Put away the sins that so easily ensnare you, put away course talking,
sexual sin, indulging every fleshly desire, materialism, think about others
before you exercise your ‘freedom.” Think of other more than yourselves. Walk in love as Christ walked in love,
imitate Christ, love as Christ.
Understand the effects of your sin, your behavior
reflects on the entire body of Christ.
People will make judgments about Christianity by the way you live your
life. People are watching!
Understand who you are in Christ. You are not your own--you were bought with a
price. You have been made an heir to a
throne an heir with Christ.
What you do, how you live your life in front of others
reflects on Christ himself, the same Christ who loved you and gave His life for
you.We need to remind ourselves of this important
truth. We need to be humbled by these
realities, because we are to live…
Live in Grace
and Peace
In grace and peace.
We cannot live the Christian life apart from God’s grace. It is His grace living through us by the Holy
Spirit that we can live the life worthy of the call of Christ.
If you attempt to live the Christian life apart from
grace, under your own power, by your own standards, you will sink into
legalism.
You will fail to live up to the standards you
have set and will impose those same standards on everyone around else around
you and judge them for not meeting your ‘standard’. (By judging you
take the focus off of your own failure.) You will be miserable and you will make others around
you miserable.
We are to keep our eyes on Christ, humbled by
understanding the incredible sacrifice he made on our behalf and the reality of
our own sin. That we are all sinners saved by grace, all of us
helped nail Christ to the cross. And it
was by his willingness to die for our sins that we are saved. I am not saved by any ‘righteous’ standard I
set or keep, it is all be grace.
It is through Christ we have peace, we have peace with
God and so when Jesus says, "Come to
Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 All
of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.
30 For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30), He means you will have
peace and rest in Him.
He is the Prince of Peace, He is our Lord and savior,
He is Jesus. Live a life worthy of your
call, live in such a way that others see Christ in you and want the grace and
peace you have.
We are his ambassadors, ambassadors to the King, His
representative, the body of Christ here on earth, called and sanctified by
Jesus Himself.
Go out from here and love as he loved you, forgive as
he forgave you, extend grace as you have been and continue to be extended
grace, live in humility as Christ lived humble, full of grace and truth. Bring glory to Christ in all that you do—you
are the church—God’s church.
