Our Principle Assets(2023)-2

Our PRINCIPLE ASSETS-II—1Corinthians 1:2-?(:1-9)

ATTENTION:

Congaree National Park is located around 10 miles southeast of Columbia SC. It’s a little over a 2 hr. drive from here.—We have plans to go there sometime in the near future. There are certain aspects of the park that are appealing to us.

The park consists of 20,000 acres, designated as ‘wilderness’, the majority of which can only be accessed by walking, kayaking, or canoeing. It contains the highest concentration of ‘champion-sized trees’ anywhere in North America. ‘Champion-sized trees’ are internationally designated & selected trees, that are considered ‘special or superlative’ because of their height, size or significance. The tallest tree in Congaree is the National Champion loblolly pine, which when last measured, was 170 feet tall & has a circumference of over 15 feet!

We are interested in the boardwalks & walking trails. Those trails lead through one of the last remaining stands of ‘old-growth woodlands’ in the United States! We don’t want to just hear about it...we want to experience it!

•It’s those principle Assets that make Congaree NP appealing & attractive to us.

* Likewise, the Church has specific & undeniable assets, that are eternally significant for all people! And as such, the Church is THE Gathering for those who love Jesus!

NEED:

Local churches can sometimes see themselves as inadequate. They ‘feel’ as if they ‘need more’ than what they have.

However, undue attention toward attracting specific people, rather than attracting God’s people overall, can lead to the church’s living a lie...

It becomes ‘preference-based’, so that the ‘Good News of Jesus’(Gospel) becomes unbalanced, skewed, & tainted with sin. And as such, it is no longer ‘THE Good News’, but rather, SOME Good News, that is more aligned with secular society & culture, than aligned with God’s desire.

An ASSET— ‘A useful or valuable thing, person, or quality’; ‘An advantage or A resource.’

Paul & Sosthenes opened their letter to the Corinthian church by informing them of their most important spiritual assets.

The local(our) church has important spiritual assets.

We will attempt to answer the question: ‘?What are some of our church’s most important spiritual assets?’

1Cor. 1:1-9 reveals at least...

5 principle spiritual assets of the Christian Church.

Previously—the 1st Sunday in June—we found that...

at least one Principle Asset of the Christian Church is...

1. APPROPRIATE APOSTLES(:1)

Today we’ll find that...

2—Another Principle Asset of the Christian church is...

SANCTIFIED SAINTS(:2)

Explanation:(:2)

:2—“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs & ours:”

“To the church of God which is at Corinth,...”

Overall, the ‘target reader’ of this letter is “the church of God.” •This is NOT a reference to the denominational affiliates under the umbrella of ‘Church of God.’

•A “church” is a ‘gathering’ or ‘assemblage’ of God’s people who are of the same mind & heart.

This verse specifically ‘targets’ that Christian “church of God” that is located “at Corinth.”

•“Corinth” was/is a city located on the northeastern edge, of the large southern peninsula, of the Roman province of Achaia. Today you can find ‘Corinth’ located in Greece, with popular mapping programs.

•The city of Corinth itself incorporated an outcropping of monolithic rock named Acrocorinth, which still rises up to 1886ft. In Paul’s day, on the pinnacle of Acrocorinth was the temple of Aphrodite—the goddess of love & beauty.

At one point, that temple boasted 1000 temple prostitutes. Prostitution was such a pervasive practice in Corinth that the term ‘to Corinthianize’ actually meant: to ‘practice immorality’! And the term ‘Corinthian girl’ was a designated for a prostitute.(ISBE)

• “The church of God which is at Corinth” ‘probably’ consisted of multiple localized branches, BUT it was not reckoned or considered by it’s divisions of separate congregations. Instead, all of the Corinthian congregations were considered as ‘one unified entity’! That is, they were considered as ‘one unified church’ or as ‘one unified body of Christ.

•The “church of God” “at Corinth” were the Christians, who were readily recognized as actively associat-ed & associat-ing by their local ministries headquartered in Corinth. The “church of God” “at Corinth” ministered to the spiritual & physical needs of the city’s populace, it’s immediate environs, & beyond...cf.-1Cor. 12:12-27...

•1Cor. 12:12-27—“For as the body is one & has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--& have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; & our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, & members individually.”