Dn Michael gave us the backdrop and overview of 1 Corinthians last Sunday.
• Corinth was a prosperous and bustling city because of its strategic location as a seaport situated at the crossroads of commerce and trade.
• It was a melting pot of many different cultures and the city then was known for their affluence, loose living, immorality and idolatry.
It was in such an environment that the church was established. That probably explains why the church was facing so many problems.
• The believers were influenced by the attitudes and values of the world around them.
Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote this letter, on his third missionary journey, sometime around AD55.
• The church in Corinth was founded by Paul about 5 years back, in AD50 when he first visited the place on his second missionary journey.
Acts 18:1-4 1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
• We read about this in Acts 18. He came to Corinth and met Priscilla and Aquilla, spent a short time working as a tentmaker and preaching in the synagogue.
• Soon the Jews began to oppose him and became abusive.
Acts 18:7-8 “7And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.”
• That’s how the church was started. It was not easy but the Lord encouraged him.
Acts 18:9-11 “9And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”
Sometime later on his third missionary trip after visiting Galatia and Phrygia, Paul came to Ephesus and received updates about the church.
• 1 Cor 1:11 “For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarrelling among you, my brothers.”
• Hence the need to write 1 Corinthians, in response to what was happening.
• This was his first concern – to address the divisions that were taking place in the church. We will understand more of this next week as we read on.
The second purpose of this letter was stated in chapter 7 - to reply to the questions they have raised in a letter to Paul.
• 1 Cor 7:1 “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…”
• He got their letter likely from a delegation that came from Corinth. 16:17 “I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence…”
• They are questions dealing with marriage, eating meat offered to idols, the conduct of worship and observing of communion, the use of spiritual gifts, and others.
1 COR addresses practical issues concerning Christian conduct and behaviours.
• It provides us with the wisdom and principles that we need in our relationship with one another in Christ.
• Christians can also quarrel and disagree with one another, but we can still unite and serve God in harmony and with love.
• We can have different views on many things and yet agree to disagree on non-essential matters.
Paul’s opening words set the tone right for all the problems that he is going to address subsequently. Let’s read.
1 Cor 1:1-3
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[If this Sosthenes is the same as that in Acts 18:17, then he is the ruler of the synagogue succeeding Crispus (Acts 18:8) who was converted. Apparently, he has become a believer and is now with Paul.]
1 Cor 1:4-9
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge — 6even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — 7so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul was about to address the many problems faced by the church.
• He would be covering at least 11 issues in this letter, almost all having to do with their conduct and behaviours.
• Paul did not give a line of greeting and dive straight into the problems. Instead, he set them thinking about WHO they are in Christ and WHAT they have received.
WHO THEY ARE IN CHRIST
1:2 “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
The believers are the church of God. They belong to God, sanctified and called to be saints TOGETHER with the rest of the believers from all over.
• There is only ONE church of God but situated in different places. He was addressing the one in Corinth.
• So the church has a geographical address. Ours is in Singapore, at 811 Upper Serangoon Road. But frankly, that’s not the important part.
• What is important is that the church has a spiritual address – we are IN CHRIST.
• We are the church of God “together with all those who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ.” (1:2)
More specifically, we are the SANCTIFIED in Christ – our sin has been forgiven and we are made righteous because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
• We are therefore called to be SAINTS in Christ. This is being DONE to us by faith in Christ, not something we earn by the works of the Law or our good deeds.
• We are BORN AGAIN spiritually to become SAINTS, otherwise, we are still sinners.
And not just those in Corinth but also in Singapore, Malaysia, Ukraine, Russia… “with ALL those who in EVERY PLACE CALL UPON the name of Jesus”.
• That’s our spiritual address – all who put their faith in Jesus as Saviour will be forgiven, redeemed and made new in Christ.
We are the church of God! And there is no hierarchy of saints.
• It does not make sense to divide the church by our tribe, language, culture, age or our different gifts or special status that Paul saw in the cosmopolitan Corinth.
• Jesus Christ is “both their Lord and ours.” (1:2b), Paul says.
• “Remember this, when everyone gathers to worship, remember this when we come together and serve God with our different gifts.” He is our common LORD.
If the Corinthians know WHO they are in Christ, then they ought to behave like one.
• Some make saints of people after they died. God makes us saints the moment we put our trust in Jesus Christ. We are justified and we can begin to live like Christ.
• Sanctification may take time but we are LIVING SAINTS.
• Paul wrote the “living saints” in Corinth who are sanctified (set apart BY God) and called to be saints (FOR God).
This understanding is important. Knowing who we are influences the way we live.
• I am the son of Uncle John, a brother to Melvin, husband to Siew Yee, a pastor of this church… understanding these relationships affect the way I live.
• I know my identity and therefore my role and responsibilities, what I ought to do and how I ought to behave.
• But more importantly, I must know WHO I AM to God. Who am I in the eyes of my Maker? That defines me, ultimately.
• That relationship is most significant because it affects the rest of my relationships; it affects how I view my life, the world and everything else around me.
Our identity comes from God.
• Our significance does not come from the work that we do.
• Our worth is not determined by the salary we are getting.
• Our value cannot be ascertained by our school transcripts or examination results.
No one can measure us, weigh us or analyse us to give us the right price of our life.
• It doesn’t matter how the world sees us. It matters how God sees us.
• God’s Word in Romans tells us WHO we are and our standing before God.
• We are sinners in need of salvation, Jesus came to save and redeem us from our sin.
• His death and resurrection bought us forgiveness and reconciled us with God.
• We are sanctified in Christ and “called saints” in this new life with God.
The believers in Corinth therefore must not allow their past lives to define them, or to allow the attitudes and values of the pagan society around them to influence them.
• As we have learnt, Corinth was at that time a promiscuous and corrupt city. The environment in which they lived was not helpful.
• To a certain extent it has affected them because they were quarrelling over who is superior, who has the better gifts; they were suing one another in courts and having immoral behaviours.
• Paul has to remind them WHO they are in Christ. All of these behaviours, which he has to address in this letter, were unbecoming of the saints of God.
Paul went on to remind them of WHAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED from God through Christ.
WHAT THEY HAVE THROUGH CHRIST
1:4-7 “4I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge — 6even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — 7so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
• They have been blessed with the gifts to serve God, by the grace of God. Nothing for them to fight about.
• They were enriched “in all speech and all knowledge” likely referring to their eloquent speaking and great knowledge.
• The Corinthians were known for their intellectual pursuits.
Paul acknowledged their eloquence and knowledge but caution them not to exalt them.
• They were putting unhealthy emphasis on the gifts. They were divided as to who was the better leader among them (1 Cor 1), the special treatments when taking the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11), who has the greater and more important gifts (1 Cor 12-14).
• Paul says when I preached the Gospel, I did not preach “with words of eloquent wisdom.” (1:17)
• 2:1 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.”
These are all gifts of God given to the church by the GRACE of God, not something to boast about or something we can take credit for.
• Be grateful, Paul said, because you are not lacking in any gift, “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (7)
• Serve God humbly with what God has given you. Acknowledge Him as LORD.
• God will “sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (8)
How can Paul be confident of this when the Corinthian church has so many problems?
• He can be confident because God is faithful!
• The church of God will stand blameless and holy at the final call. Eph 5:25-27 paints us this final picture: “25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Meanwhile, as we struggle on this side of heaven, this is the church we are looking at – the church at Corinth in AD 55 with “divisions, disorders and difficulties”.
• But we will get there, as the Word of God has said.
• In the meantime, Paul would have to provide the Corinth church with the instructions and the reminders they need.
• As Dn Michael asked last week, ultimately this is the question:
“Do we want to be the Christians that God declares us to be?”
LESSONS for the day: Choose to live as saints and stay focused on Jesus.
LESSON ONE:
Knowing the corruption that this city was known for, the way Paul addressed the church was interesting. He said, “To the church of God in that is in Corinth…”
• On the one hand, we have the SANCTIFIED church of God, and the other, in a very CORRUPTED city.
• The tension is there and the bottom line is this: Is the church influencing the city, or is the city influencing the church?
• If the church is to influence society, then they need to watch their behaviours.
Remember we are sanctified in Christ and called saints. Let us live like one.
• In the past, we cannot because we were slaves to sin, but now we can because we are made alive in Christ and He lives in us. Let us choose right and live right.
LESSON TWO:
We will do well if we stay focused on Christ, apparently Paul’s emphasis.
• In these opening words, Paul referred to JESUS at every line, a total of 9 times.
• And then his appeal in 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” 10 times in 10 verses.
• The sure cure for the problems of the Corinthians is for them to stay focused on Jesus. They need to get their eyes off themselves and the world, and onto Jesus.
Let us do the same today.
• Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
• And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
Prayer:
Help us remember who we are in Christ and what we have received. Let us treasure all that you have done for us and all that you have given us in Christ.
May we be the light and salt for you in this troubled world. May we live to honour you and bring you glory.
May our lives tell the story of your love and grace, and bring hope to the hopeless.
May all who are struggling today look up to you. Help them know that they are loved and cared for. You are with them and your grace is sufficient for them.
In Christ’s Name, AMEN.
You can hear the audio sermon with slides at https://youtu.be/oZl5Yg0mhtU
and access all our earlier sermons at https://tinyurl.com/KTCC-EnglishService
