This sermon (1 Corinthians 1: 1 - 3) was preached at West Ewell Evangelical Church, Surrey, on Sunday 28 September 2014.
We have read Acts 18: 1 – 22, the visit of Paul with Silas and Timothy to Corinth. Paul spent 6 months in tent making there, to subsidise his preaching and teaching. Both Jews and Greeks converted at that place.
Corinth was a dysfunctional church, but we also need to look at ourselves before pointing the finger to them. We are not exactly perfect and will not be until we go to be with the Lord.
When we look at the social and religious life in Corinth, it is not too different from our nation with its low public morals.
Whilst Paul was at Ephesus on his third missionary journey, Chloe’s family (1: 11) told him of the immorality and dissension in the church. Almost at the same time, 3 members of the church wanted advice on matters of marriage, things sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and charitable collections.
As Church, we are informed of:
1. God’s grace
2. God’s peace
3. Celebrate God’s grace and peace
Review of the last sermon:
a. Called to be holy
We are called to be separate/set apart – from sin, all that against God’s character.
The words ‘to be’ are missing in the original. Our status is that of people who are ‘called holy,' which can only be so by the finished work of Jesus on the cross, covered by His righteousness.
Sanctification is not an attainment, but what God calls people so that they can start walking with Him. It covers them with the robe of righteousness attained through finished work of Jesus (as we are reminded in Galatians chapter 2). We need to stop often to think and thank God.
It is a long process, which needs to have decisive break with unbelief and sin, and start with new way of faith and obedience – at the foot of the cross.
The most important thing is for people to be – to grow in Jesus – rather than what they do, although inevitably one will lead to the other.
b. Calling on the Lord
'Ekklesia' is the Greek word for any secular assembly for it is used of rioters in Ephesus (Acts 19). It was also used in the Septuagint for the assembly of Israelites, but also used by the New Testament writers to describe the assembly of God’s people, which is unique as God is in the centre.
Church is not social club, or where we go to enjoy services or even to perform‘Christian duties’ (whatever that might mean). The Church is the gathered people to call upon the Lord.
Introduction
Grace and peace are mentioned in all letters as greetings, except in1 John.
God’s grace and peace is central to the book. We need to remember that as we go through it. The keys to the letters or books in New Testament are in the front or back doors – in this case, in the opening verses. We will develop theme of grace and peace in successive sermons, so I am not going to say everything about these two things in this sermon or I will have nothing to say in following months.
The first three verses are foundational – if we do not get them right then the rest of the book does not make sense.
Worship, marriage and spiritual gifts proceed from God’s grace and peace – indeed, we refer to ‘charismatic gifts,’ gifts arising from God’s grace.
Both grace and peace are real as linked with and proceeded from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, imparted by the Holy Spirit – the harmony seen in the Godhead.
1. God’s grace
We may have our own thoughts about the meaning of the two words ‘grace’ and ‘peace, particularly ‘grace’’.
It is not as in the following illustration: A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six year-old daughter and said, ‘Would you like to say the blessing?’ The girl replied, ‘I wouldn’t know what to say.’ ‘Just say what you hear your Mummy say,’ the wife answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, ‘Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?’
We have been thinking much at housegroup recently on God’s grace.
· = underserved/unmerited mercy (Romans 6: 23 – ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’)
· = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense – nothing we could do, God reaching down to us as we could not reach up to Him, free gift of God to people
Grace is what Jesus brought – ‘[Jesus] came…full of grace and truth’ (John 1: 14)
None of us deserve God's grace. We can point the finger at the Samaritan woman at the well (John chapter 4) with her scandalous behaviour which upset the norms of the day, we can also point to the woman caught in adultery (John chapter 8) - what would have been our reactions had we been in the crowds? Who among us, using the standards set out in the Sermon on the Mount, has not been angry with someone or had impure thoughts about a person of the opposite sex, moreover had thoughts not compatible with God’s standards?
We are not to airbrush God's morality to suit the morals of the postmodern society but to be consistent, which we will see as we travel through this letter – e.g. same-sex relationships are wrong but so are a man and a woman not married living together, the death of Jesus not just a good man who had an unfortunate death but as He died as Saviour of the world.
In our non-religious society, people want facts not fudges, major spiritual heart surgery not soothing plasters.
We need to rediscover the grace that God has poured out on us – not to presume or think we know everything about it.
God does not want us to base our relationship with Him on our performance – what we do – but on His grace, which only He can give. The watchword of the Reformation was sola gratia, grace alone - we cannot add anything to it.
It was the founding statement as Jesus started His earthly ministry: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ (Luke 4: 18 – 19, quoting Isaiah 61: 1 – 2) – We are all recipients
The opening words of Lord’s Prayer – ‘Our Father’ – tell of open hands, acknowledging the receipt of mercy from God who has adopted us into His family.
We can never have too much grace – otherwise, we will face the problems that will encounter in this letter.
David Zahl stated rightly that we should avoid ‘all about me’ which leads to religious burnout and self-righteousness, whilst it is also blunting the assurance and freedom of God’s grace.
Have you eyes upwards in adoration and thanksgiving for God’s grace, or have you still got something of yourself going on inside?
2. God’s peace
It is enough to say, that when we get grace and then peace follows. God’s undeserved mercy that emanated from Him results in our peace with Him.
If we type in ‘personal peace’ into search engine, we will get more than 300,000 results - many people are looking for peace but in all the wrong places.
The word 'peace' is ‘shalom’ in Hebrew, which means more than absence of strife but presence of positive blessings, prosperity (especially spiritually), wholeness.
Cornelius Plantinga Jnr. wrote a book called ‘Not the way it’s supposed to be: A Breviary of sin’, where he stated that sin is ‘vandalism of Shalom’ so people are missing out in the universal flourishing, wholeness, delight, how it is meant to be that can only be found in Jesus.
The only way is through God – ‘You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.’ (Isaiah 26: 3). Peace is conditional on us walking closely with God.
Some of Jesus’ final words in upper room before he was arrested were ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and not be afraid.’(John 14: 27)
This is Illustrated as following: William Randolph Hearst was a wealthy and famous newspaper publisher in the 1920's. He also loved art and had a huge collection. One day he read of a painting and decided that he must own it. Hearst sent two men to Europe to find the painting and to buy it. The two men scoured the European art galleries for seven weeks. They finally located the painting and wired Mr Hearst with the information. ‘Where is it?’ Hearst demanded. They replied, ‘It’s in your art warehouse in California. Mr Hearst, you already own it.’
If we know Jesus, then we already own His peace – we need to claim it.
There will be times when we look around the world and in our own lives, and be concerned, but God is in control. First word that Jesus said to His disciples after conquering sin and death was ‘Peace’ (John 20: 19).
3. Celebrate God’s grace and peace
Billy Graham commented: ‘We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.’
We need to show grace to others who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Extended reading from ‘The Effective Church’ by Geoff Surratt (2014):
‘Can you imagine what it would be like to walk into your church for the very first time? Not as a veteran church attender or someone steeped in American [or British] Christianity, but as complete rookie to the church experience.
‘As you walk into the lobby you see signs like “Worship Centre” and “Connect, Grow, Serve” but you have no idea what they mean. You follow the crowd into what appears to be the “Worship Centre”, and when the music starts you stand when everyone else does. The band is singing songs you’ve never heard before, but you notice a few people around you singing along. You mumble through words on the screen to fit in. Other than the National Anthem at a ballgame the last time you were involved in group singing was 7th grade choir. That’s an experience you never thought you’d have to repeat.
‘Finally the band finishes and everyone sits down. The stage lights focus on what appears to be a large bathtub. A girl about 10 or 11 years old climbs into the bathtub while an older guy addresses the crowd saying something about “baptism” and “profession of faith.” The older guy then grabs the young girl and shoves her under the water! The most shocking part is people applaud when he pulls her out. You’re pretty sure he’d be arrested anywhere else for treating a child like that, but everyone here seems to like it. This is one of the strangest things you’ve ever seen.
‘Next up is snack time. They pass around trays with tiny crackers and the smallest shot glasses you’ve ever seen. You’re pretty hungry so you grab a handful of crackers and a couple of plastic cups of wine. From the disapproving stares you realise you’ve broken a major rule of etiquette, but you have no idea what you’ve done wrong. Then you notice that everyone else only took one shot and one cracker. Embarrassed you wolf down your crackers and wine (which turns to be grape juice) and toss the empties in the little velvet trash bag they pass down the aisle. This is turning out to be the strangest morning of your life.
‘After snack a man walks on stage and talks for 30 – 45 minutes. Some of it is interesting, but he keeps referring to people like Peter and Paul as though you should know who they are. Toward the end of his speech he says that people need to “give their hearts to Jesus.” After the dunking and weird snack you just hope this won’t involve some kind of public surgery. You’re relieved to realise giving your heart is just a metaphor.
‘The man finishes with a little prayer. He tells everyone to come back next week to hear part 1 of a new series on the “book of James.” You assume James must be a friend of Peter and Paul because apparently they also wrote books. You chuckle to yourself about the speaker referring to The Old Man and the Sea as the “book of Hemingway.” The speaker encourages everyone to stop by the “Connect Table” on the way out and sign up for a “small group.” You think to yourself, “A small group of what?” but you have no desire to find out. After this morning’s experience of mass glee club, dunking little girls, eating tiny snacks and talking about authors you’ve never heard of you know there are better ways to kill an hour on Sunday morning.’
Geoff Surratt concludes: ‘I’m not suggesting we change everything we do in church, but I think we should think about how what we do in church looks to the uninitiated. How can we make church more accessible without losing the rich tradition? What is it like not to know?’
We need to take up the challenge as we look to reaching out to neighbourhood – reflecting the heart of God who does not delight in people going to hell but reaches out in grace and mercy, to give them His peace.
Conclusion
Questions:
· Is there room in your life for the holiness of God to shine through or is it still cluttered with ‘me’?
· When was the last time that you really called upon the Lord? (Saying grace before meals does not count!)
· How much do you know of God’s grace and His subsequent peace?
