“Marco, Polo”
1Corinthians 1: 1-3
Intro: If you remember back before the holidays, we finished going through 1 John. This morning we are starting a new series of sermons out of 1 Corinthians. We will still work our way through 1 Corinthians and Genesis on a bi-weekly series throughout the year.
. The city of Corinth still exists today in Greece. It is a small town today with a very rich and prosperous past.
. In Paul’s day, it was a very prosperous and thriving city. All overland traffic north and south from the coast to Athens went through Corinth.
.Greece is divided into two parts with water separating the two sections. Sailing around the southern part to reach Athens was very treacherous and very time consuming. There was a saying in those days about sailing around the southern tip of Greece. The sailors would say, “A sailor never takes a journey around Malea,( the southern peninsula) until he first writes his will.”
. A very treacherous journey. Some smart engineer devised a way for the ships to be moved across land from one side of the water to the other. They would pull the ships out of the water and roll them on skids across poles and rounded wood to the other side. This was a four mile pull that was very safe verses the 250 mile hazardous journey. Most Captains chose the overland route.
. All those ships had to pass right by the outskirts of Corinth, making Corinth a very suburban and cosmopolitan city.
. Think of it as Atlanta being the hub of the southeast with our airport here being the busiest airport in America. Corinth was the hub of the southern part of Greece.
. Corinth was also important as an entertainment and sports venues. The two great sporting events in history were the Olympian Games and the Isthmian games. These games rivaled the Olympics. Corinth was the home of the Isthmian games.
. The famous temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was located atop the highest point there in Corinth with as many as one thousand temple prostitutes making themselves available to all the traffic that came through the area.
. Corinth had a reputation for moral corruption. When people of that time were found to be morally corrupt, they were referred to as a corinthiazesthai which meant to act as a Corinthian.
. It was into this culture that Paul visited Corinth and founded the church there.
. Acts chapter 18 chronicles the birth of the church in Corinth. Paul spent a year and one half there. Starting and stabilizing the church in Corinth and I believe that they had a special place in Paul’s heart.
. After Paul left, problems arose within the church in Corinth. Factions materialized and people started taking sides and started showing loyalty to pastor teachers rather than God.
. They also had a problem detaching themselves from the corrupt society that was so prevalent and part of their society. The world was creeping into the church and Paul took the time to pen this epistle or letter urging them to correct the problems that had come into the church.
. I told you all of that for two reasons; the first was to put what I will be sharing with you as we go through 1 Corinthians in cultural context.
. We must understand the context of what we are reading in order to understand God’s word.
. The second reason is to highlight the fact that our society today, right here in metro Atlanta is not much different than the society that the Corinthian believers were immersed.
. This letter has just as much relevance for us today as it did to the Corinthian believers.
. This morning, I want us to look at Paul’s opening greetings to the church.
. Paul will remind them that He has been called and has answered the call of God and that they too are called.
Lets look at our scripture. 1 Corinthians 1: 1-3
1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.
2I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.
He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
3May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
.Paul starts this letter talking about be called by God.
. God’s call to everyone is much like the Game “Marco Polo”
. Marco polo, for those of you who are not familiar with the game, is a game that is usually played in a pool or body of water with swimmers. One person is “it”. Just like a game of tag. He or she will close their eyes and count to ten and everybody else will move away from them and spread out all over the pool. The person that is “it” will keep their eyes closed and they will yell out “marco” and all the others in the pool are supposed to reply by saying “polo”, The person who is “it” will then try to find them through listening to their voice when they say “polo”. The person who is “it” can call out as much as they want and they other people must answer.
. It works like this: (I will enlist one person from each side of the church to answer polo when I call out marco.) I will call out like this and then I will try to locate that person who just answered. I will do this on each side of the church.
. The game works very well as long as the participants answer when I call out. When I call and no one answers, then the came comes to a standstill because no one is answering the call.
. Paul, in his opening statement, is reminding the Corinthian believers that He was called by God.
.Look back at verse 1 with me again;
. 1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus …
. The KJV and other translations open up like this:
. “Paul, called to be an Apostle …”
. Paul starts right off the bat saying I have answered the call of God on my life.
. I have been call to be an Apostle Paul writes.
. Paul was formerly called Saul before his call.
. He was a persecutor of Christians for the Jewish religious leaders. He was on his way to Damascus to seek out and punish believers of Jesus Christ and he had an encounter with the risen Lord. We find this recorded in Acts chapter 9.
1Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest.
2He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!
6Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
. Paul reminds them that he was called directly by Jesus. He states that he was called to be an Apostle. An apostle was one who had been taught and had experienced the risen Lord.
. In Galations 1: 11-12, 18, we see how Paul was qualified to call himself an Apostle.
. 11Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning.
12I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
. Then in verse 15-18, he tells us when this happened.
. 15But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him
16to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.
17Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.
. When Paul answered the call, he went straightway into Arabia and many believe that Jesus revealed himself to Paul and taught him during this time.
. Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that he answered the call.
.Jesus was crying out “marco” to Paul, waiting on him to answer “polo” so God could use him.
Paul says that he has answered the call f God in and on his life.
. Paul writes that not only is he called, they are called also.
. Look at verse 2 again:
. 2I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.
He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
. Paul writes to the church that not only has he been called, they have also been called.
. God is calling out “marco” to all that will hear. He is waiting on their response. Will they answer, will they say “polo” here I am God.
. Many people think that only Pastors and Teachers and Deacons are the only people that God calls.
. I tell you this morning folks that God calls everyone.
. The first call is the call to be holy.
. Look at the first part of verse 2 again.
. 2I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.
. The KJV and other translations translate the Greek word hagios as saint.
. Thus if you are looking at some of those translations, you see that you are called to be a saint. Perfect right?
.That Greek word actually means “set apart one” or “ holy one”.
. That set apart one means that we have been set apart from sin and we are holy in God’s eyes when we respond to his call.
. You see, holiness is a positional word. Meaning that we are in a position of holiness in God’s eyes when we answer his call. When we become one of the called out ones. One of the saints.
. We have taken the term saint and placed a works doctrine to it. To be a saint is not to be like mother Teresa or saint Anthony or the Pope.
. There are no works required to be a saint. A called out one.
. In the second part of verse two, Paul reminds them of how they have and will become saints.
Look at the second part of verse 2:
. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
. We are made saints, not by vote of the church, we are saints by the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for the forgiveness of our sin.
. Paul tells them that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, anyone who answers God’s call, anyone who cries out “polo” when god calls out “marco” is a saint.
.Now many of us do not act like saints or look like one who has been set aside, set apart from the world and that is part of what Paul is going to address in this letter. He starts out though by reminding them who they are in Christ Jesus.
. Sometimes we need to be reminded of who we are in Christ.
. We need to be reminded and refocused as a church. As a body of believers.
. We Are To Be Different, We Are Set Apart.
. We are all called by God.
. As we go through this epistle in the following months, Paul will continually remind them and us that they and we are called to be different.
. Different from the depraved world that they and we live in.
. As I close this morning, have you heard God call?
. He calls us all but we must respond in order for us to find each other.
.God is calling you this morning, are you responding.
. Just like in the game “Marco Polo”, you must answer the call for anything else to happen.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT,KJV
John MacArthur, The New Testament Commentary; 1 Corinthians
