What do you think of when you hear the term “Rich Corinthian Leather”? That’s actually a misquote, Ricardo Montalban said “Soft Corinthian Leather” while referring to the Chrysler Cordoba in a mid-seventies advertising campaign. As it turned out this “Rich Corinthian Leather” was mass produced in a factory in Newark, New Jersey, not Corinth, but it helped sell a lot of automobiles.
The reference to the Corinthians is interesting. Two thousand years ago, you would have never used the city of Corinth in any advertising campaign. When the Apostle Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthian Church he was writing to a defiled church. Only twenty-five years after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the church in Corinth was falling apart. People were engaged in all kinds of worldly activity, using the grace of God as an excuse for worldly living. It was also a divided church, with at least four different groups competing for leadership. This meant it was a disgraced church. Instead of glorifying God, because of pride, it was hindering the progress of the Gospel.
How did this happen? The members of the church permitted the sins of the city to creep into the local assembly. According to Warren Wiersbe, the city of Corinth was a polluted city, filled with every kind of vice and worldly pleasure. About the lowest accusation you could make against a man in that day would be to call him “a Corinthian.” People would know what you were talking about.
So it’s interesting that Chrysler chose “Corinthian Leather” for its interior. This image was enhanced by Hollywood, once again, as usual. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church could have been written to the church in America today. The Corinthian Church was filled with proud people with hidden agendas, and of course when you have proud people depending on human wisdom, adopting the lifestyle of the world, you are going to have problems.
Paul opened his letter by reminding the people of the church of their calling in Christ, He writes that we are called to be Holy – set apart by God. The word “church” in the Greek language means “a called out people.” Every church has two addresses – a geographic address (the city where our church is) and a spiritual address (in Christ Jesus.) We are to be sanctified or set apart by God. We are living Saints, that God can use on a daily basis.
This morning’s Scripture reference is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16; “Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the Temple of God, God will destroy him. For the Temple of God is Holy.”
This is a severe warning to us all. We are set apart by God and we are to make sure God’s Temple remains pure, as individuals and as a church. The Spirit of God dwells in us, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells here in this church, and our church needs to be driven by this Spirit and nothing else.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus gave us these words referring to the church as a whole. It was a lesson on humility. You’ll remember when the disciples came to Jesus, probably led by Peter, and asked Him who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them and said; “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter in the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My Name receives Me.” Jesus then went on to say; “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of these offenses.” During the time when Jesus walked this earth, a millstone was one of two stones used for grinding grain. It was a stone so large it took a donkey to turn it. Jesus is speaking of the church, to keep worldly sins out of the church, to keep it pure, for this is where God dwells.
So what drives the church? Two weeks ago I had mentioned that I was reading a wonderful book by Calvin Miller entitled “Loving God Up Close.” In it, Calvin Miller writes about how we can let the enormous force of the Holy Spirit bring us closer to God – and love Him more than we ever thought we could. We have talked about the force of the Holy Spirit a lot in this church. It is the force that drives this church and it should be the force that drives our lives. After all, God dwells in this Holy place, and He dwells within us, so the Spirit should be the same in our lives.
The Holy Spirit inspires each of us to do great things in a most ordinary way. And nothing can stop us.
The church today needs to be vital, to meet people’s needs, and to make a difference. Calvin Miller says that God has always desired His church to be a center for mobilization where people pick up the right equipment to advance the Kingdom in a hostile world. He says that the church ought to be a place where the defeated come in, strip themselves of their weakness, and then dress themselves in the power of the Holy Spirit. For the church to thrive, the Holy Spirit must lead in at least four areas:
First, the church must allow the Spirit to start or to stop any program that it has going. I believe too many churches are status quo today, because they have been doing the same thing, the same way for decades. Where is fresh Spirit? It’s the same with our lives. We do the same thing, the same way over and over instead of asking the Spirit to lead our lives. If there is extraordinary power in the Holy Spirit, given to us by God’s grace, then we should dress ourselves with it every day!
Second, the church needs to remain free to try any form of Christ-centered worship. We do live in a world filled with worship wars. When we hear people fighting over what kind of worship they like or don’t like, we need to ask the question; “Is this fight what God would truly want?” The answer is always “no”. In many ways, church has become an entertainment center instead of a place to come to worship, pray and seek the Holy Spirit in our lives. Think about your response to worship? Does God have a favorite form of worship? God seeks only sincere hearts, and whether a person enjoys one kind of taste in sermons or music has nothing to do with how God feels. Remember, most of the time when we disagree on worship issues, they are not Salvation issues!
The late DT Niles said that the Gospel would never have been accepted in Africa until the Gospel could be drummed and danced. Would that style of worship be accepted in our Southern California churches today? Probably not, but it doesn’t matter to God how we worship, only that we bring glory and adoration to God through our worship.
Third, according to Calvin Miller, the church must go beyond promoting tolerance to promoting acceptance. The Holy Spirit thrives at the center of such communities. We must accept people for who they are. Why do we judge? For the Holy Spirit to work in our lives I believe we need to become more accepting of people as they are; otherwise we limit the power that is available. Think about it? Do we tolerate or do we accept? One of my favorite people is a radio talk show host from the Los Angeles area. Rich Buhler’s radio ministry is entitled “Talk From The Heart.” He has always said that “There is a big difference between love and approval.”
And fourth, the church must believe that God loves every individual the same. If we can look at people from God’s perspective, our outlooks change. Perhaps you read the novel “All Quiet On The Western Front” when a German soldier and a French soldier fell into the same foxhole during World War I.
As these two enemies lie there in the same foxhole, wounded and dying, they look at each other with a new kind of reservation, and a new kind of openness that says, “We really aren’t that different after all.” And then these two sworn enemies, who only moments before had tried to kill each other, found out in their dying moments how much they were alike. They each took out their wallets to show the other pictures of their family, living in two completely different places. Not only do these enemies exhibit the same kind of basic needs and loves, they die cherishing the same values. I believe we are blessed, and we receive power from the Holy Spirit when we can look at the faces of our enemies and find similarities.
The power of the Holy Spirit can transform lives, the power of the Holy Spirit can transform churches and the power of the Holy Spirit can change the world, one person at a time.
