In Romans chapter 4 the faith that saved Abraham is defined as that which believes that God gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. (vs. 17)
Throughout the scriptures, no matter the specific accomplishments of men and women of God, whenever we are given any glimpse of what about them made them acceptable to God, it seems that the very foundation of their faith, that manifested itself in action, was the belief that He creates and resurrects.
More specifically, He is the one and only Creator, and he alone can call the dead to life.
There are many expressions of this theme; some more apparent than others. But it is there, running like a thread throughout the Bible. Therefore we see it here also, in I Corinthians, and will continue to see it throughout the letter.
It is expressed in the interpersonal relationship between God and His church. When we look on one hand at the human side of the church, these many problems that Paul had to address and the struggles they were going through, and then on the other hand we study the whole thing from God’s perspective, as revealed to us in the things that Paul says to them about God, we see, over and over, death and resurrection. Grace in the face of gracelessness. The way we see ourselves and others, and the way God sees.
Now as we go, let’s be careful to keep our perspective. We aren’t here to simply pick apart the inadequacies of the Corinthians and marvel that God could be so patient with them, and we also are not coming here to see their faults, and parallel them with faults in the modern day church and then sit around and agree that the church today is a mess.
Rather, we come to once more be amazed in the presence of God, who calls the imperfect ‘perfect’, even as He is in the early processes of making it so.
And this is not some new idea; something introduced in the New Testament through the teachings of Jesus or Paul, or in the actual event of the death and resurrection of Christ.
In the Old Testament we see many instances of God calling something that which it is not yet, but that it shall be. He changed Abram’s name to Abraham, ‘father of many’, over two decades before his promised son was born. He called David the king of Israel long before David ascended to the throne. He called Gideon ‘mighty warrior’, while Gideon hid behind the wine press, trying to keep just a little bit of grain out of the hands of the Midianites.
The thing that should lighten our hearts as we go is to note that God never called something that which it was not, that didn’t eventually become that. God’s view of your future and mine is clear and true and perfect, Christian, and he calls you now what you will eventually be, by His divine intervention and the continuance of His loving, sanctifying work.
So let’s enter now into this study in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and let God show us how He sees the whole picture.
THE IMPERFECT CHURCH (VS 10-17)
Skimming lightly over these verses, 10 through 17, the first thing that jumps out at me is that the first problem Paul addresses in this letter is divisiveness. Division in the body.
Whoever Chloe is, whether a member of the church or a prominent business woman in Corinth with whom Paul has had some acquaintance, she has ‘people’. Now these may be servants that she sends to do her bidding, or they may be employees or family; we don’t know.
They’re just Chloe’s people.
Now this is circa 56 or 57 A.D., and Paul is presently staying in Ephesus. So Chloe has sent her people to Paul, probably with a letter, filling him in on the latest in the Corinthian church.
It’s probably safe to assume that Chloe is a part of that church, otherwise she would not know so much about it, and would not be this concerned with what little she did know.
She informed Paul concerning the brethren, so she was probably a part of the body of Christ there.
So Paul is responding to this information brought by Chloe’s people, and as we go through we will see that there are a number of important issues to be addressed. But if Paul has responded in order of priority in his own thinking, which it seems to me the best course of action, then we can glean from this that he sees division as of primary importance.
Why? Well, if there is no unity, and no cooperation, and no agreement in thought or action, then there really isn’t much point in trying to fix any other problems, is there?
If, as a congregation, people are differing in their doctrine, how can they be made to agree in doctrine if there is division and self-serving?
If there is someone in their midst sinning grievously, and some of them do not see that it is a problem, how can their thinking be reconciled, if they cannot be reconciled with one another?
There are things to discuss! But Paul sees that there is division. This is a very fundamental problem that must be dealt with before any other good can come.
Look at the wording of verse 10, keeping in mind Paul’s numerous references to the church as Christ’s body and using the analogy of the body in his teaching.
“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
So first of all we note that he invokes the name of our Lord Jesus Christ as his authority in making this admonition.
It is His body we are. He is the One who makes us one, and therefore divisions go against the very order and purpose He has brought to the church.
I might come to you and say, “You should not have divisions and disagreements among you. You should get along and try to agree and be united in thought and action.” Most of us, maybe all of us, would agree with that. But one or two might say, “Why should we?” “What’s wrong with division? If I don’t like what she said or what he did, or what they want, why should I try to get along with them at all?”
But if I preface my exhortations with ‘…by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’, that should put you in mind of the things you’ve been taught about Jesus, and from Jesus.
And then you might be more apt to say, “You’re right. When we think about the things Jesus said about putting others first, and loving one another, and praying that the Father’s will be done over ours in all things, it only makes sense that He wouldn’t want us divided over these lesser issues that only destroy unity.”
See the term, “made complete” in verse 10? Complete in the same mind and the same judgment. The word translated ‘mind’ there has to do with understanding. In the NIV it says ‘united in mind and thought’. The Amplified says “united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments”.
So the clearest rendering would be ‘understanding’, or ‘observations’, and ‘judgments’ and ‘opinions’.
Paul is calling for a ‘completeness’ among them in their common understanding of things, and a unity in their judgments concerning that which they have understood. Properly understanding and judging the fundamental things therefore, makes them complete.
Is it any wonder there is division and strife in so many of our churches today, believers, when you stop to think about what a dearth there is, of understanding and just plain common sense about things?
My, oh my, sometimes it seems like people are just running around, bumping into each other, everyone grabbing for the thing that sounds best to them and everybody talking, and nobody saying anything to anybody!
“Have you read the latest ‘Left Behind’ book? Do you think it’s really going to happen like that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to claim the prayer of Jabez right up to the end!’
“Well I listen to this T.V. preacher who says as a Christian I have authority to claim my blessings, and brother, I’m claimin’!”
“You people need to settle down and stick to what really works! I won’t attend a class that doesn’t use LifeWay materials! What about you, friend?”
“Me? Oh, I just ask myself what Jesus would do and…”
Stop by any church of your choice, and see if you can find 10 people who will give you a clear and accurate response to questions like, “What is the doctrine behind baptism and why do we do it?” or “What does Justification mean?”
We’ve talked about this. We learn doctrine because it is the foundation that our Christian house is built on. Without it, we’re living in a grass hut built on mud! We’re literally on shaky ground, believer, when we haven’t been built up in our faith on that foundation.
Now the Corinthians had begun well, to be sure. We know from the first four verses of chapter 15 of this very letter that Paul himself delivered the gospel to them and I’m sure he taught them many other things before moving on from there. But now they’ve abandoned reason, and gone off track.
Here is this short list of good men and able teachers; Apollos, who Luke calls “mighty in the scriptures” in Acts 18:24, and Cephas, who we know is the Apostle Peter, Paul himself, and wonder of wonders, they’ve even included Christ, apparently in their folly, equating Him with his servants and putting them on a level with Him.
And they’ve become divided and apparently have developed these little cliques, each thinking they’re above the others because they have followed the ‘right guy’.
Now just in case someone is thinking, ‘well, at least the group saying they are of Christ is right on’, that is not necessarily true. Because if your heart is filled with pride in yourself because you follow and adhere to the teaching of Christ over all others, but you don’t have a vibrant and growing personal relationship with Jesus, worshiping Him from the heart as your Lord and your God, then you are clinging to an idol, and no matter what you name it you are as off track as that other guy claiming loyalty to a mere man.
“Is Christ divided?” asked Paul. And He cannot be. The question was rhetorical. Of course He is not! He is one with the Father and one with the saints. He shares His glory and His authority with no one, and there is no such thing as being ‘of Christ and Apollos’, or ‘of Christ and Paul’, or ‘of Christ and Cephas’, or ‘of Christ and Dr Frederick Price’, or ‘of Christ and Pat Robertson’, or ‘of Christ and Clark’, or any other name you can fill the blank in with.
So their primary problem was that they were being silly. They were failing to be of the same understanding about things and using clear judgment concerning those things, and staying united and looking only to Christ, and things were in a bit of an uproar.
Sounds a lot like some of our churches, doesn’t it?
Point is, they were imperfect. Now I haven’t been around very long in relation to the life of the church. Born in 1950 but not really cognizant of the nature of church until the last 25 years or so. And I haven’t even read a whole lot about church history.
But here was this very early church, already in trouble. Divisive, foolish in their thinking and failing to unite. Such a mess, that Chloe was alarmed enough to send a letter all the way to Ephesus to snitch them off to Paul.
And I know we agree that we see this exact same mess in churches today.
So I’m going to go out on a limb here, and speculate that there hasn’t been a time in history where there hasn’t been some problem or set of problems in Christ’s church, to demonstrate undeniably, the human imperfection of the corporate church of Jesus Christ.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.
CALLED PERFECT (VS 8)
Paul calls them brethren. Paul calls them saints. And he says, (vs. 4) “I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.”
We have to be careful I think, in our time and culture, not to superimpose on the scriptures the disingenuousness and plastic shallowness of much of our communication.
Whether in the secular world, or the ecclesiastical realm, political correctness, soft pedaling, sugar-coating, have been turned into a fine art.
If I have to confront, if I am put in a position of addressing a problem, it is expected that I will say things in a positive way.
Oh, don’t say, “Your daily production is down, and there are accusations coming to me that you are coming to work late and leaving early”.
No, no. Say “We really appreciate all of your efforts and we see that you continue to improve and grow as you learn the business. We are confident that as you continue to put forth the kind of effort you have been that production can only increase from your work station. Thank you for your faithfulness, and just to show my appreciation, I’m going to buy you a cup of coffee at 8 AM, sharp, tomorrow”.
We need to remind ourselves that the writers of scripture wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, who is not a politician. And He didn’t choose politicians to write through.
He always means exactly what He says, and there is no need to ‘read between the lines’ when reading scripture. Isn’t that comforting and encouraging?
It should be. It would make me very nervous to think that the One who has power to speak me out of existence might get miffed if I don’t catch on to what He’s hinting at!
No, we have a God of truth and straightforward lovingkindness.
So when Paul says, “I thank my God always concerning you,” he means that he, from a sincere heart, thanks God concerning the Corinthians.
And when he says, “…the grace of God…was given you in Christ Jesus”, he means that God’s grace has been given to them.
And in verse 8 when he says “…who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”, he’s not just setting them up so they won’t take it so hard when he reproves them for their faithless living.
He is confirming, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, that in the day of our Lord, which we understand to be the final Judgment and when Christ sets up His kingdom on earth, He will declare these Corinthian believers, and all believers from all time, to be blameless before Him.
Christian, this is a great encouragement for us!
We look around us frequently at today’s church, and we sigh. Now I’m not talking about the apostate church. I don’t mean the so called church that the world looks at and thinks it’s seeing the true church.
So we’re not talking here of the latest scandal rocking the Roman Catholic religion, or nut-cases blowing up abortion clinics in the name of Jesus.
I mean the true church, the bride of Christ, made up of Spirit-born, Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ. And it really does take one to know one in this case. Do you realize that?
Someone said you don’t have to be a chicken to smell a rotten egg. But you really do have to be a true Christian to recognize a Christian. And in fact, you do have to be a true Christian to recognize a false or nominal Christian.
Jesus said we’d know them by their fruit, and implied in that is that their lack of fruit will tell us as much as the actual fruit.
So we look around at the true church of Jesus Christ in our culture, and we see, many times, a mess. Division, strife, unconfronted sin, people coming and going in and out of the church depending on their present mood and who offended them last…
Oh, the Corinthian church of Paul’s day had nothing on us, Christians! Paul’s rebuke and exhortation to them in this letter still speaks very clearly to us and there is no part of it that we can look at and say, “Well, we can just cut this part out because it no longer has significance for us. We’ve overcome that little problem and it’s not likely to pop up again. They might have had a problem with that, but not us!”
No, this letter will be speaking to us and convicting us from just about every page as we go through.
But here is how God sees the picture.
Through Christ Jesus.
That really says it all, believer. It is why Paul began his letter with rejoicing. It is why he is able to salute them with a declaration of Grace and Peace, and call them saints and assure them concerning their acceptance with God.
God’s grace has been given us in Christ Jesus. Grace, as the song goes, that is greater than all our sin.
And although I began this sermon with a look at verses 10 through 17 and talked first about the imperfect church, let it not escape your notice that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, began with the declaration that in God’s economy these are a people destined by grace to be declared complete and blameless in the day of the Lord.
We do not see as He sees, beloved. He sees perfection, because in Christ that is what we will be.
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (Vs 9)
Read verse 9 with me. “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This would mark the finish of the opening statements of this letter. What commentators would call the salutation.
If the Corinthians, as they read this letter, or had it read to them as a congregation, really let these opening lines speak to their hearts, this should have prepared them to receive gracefully all that would come after it.
Christians, let this give you a calm assurance today that overcomes all anxiety, all doubt about the present condition of the church, all the ills and short-comings that so often have us shaking our heads in disbelief.
Listen.
God is faithful. God is faithful.
He who does not change, and cannot fail, is faithful. He is faithful to His own character, He is faithful to His promises, He is faithful to His judgments and His predetermined plan for you and for me.
By His magnificent grace you were called into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ.
And knowing all that had to be said to these young Corinthian believers, and knowing all that will have to be said to your heart and mine as He continues to sanctify us and conform us to His image, still, He begins, not ends, but begins, calling us ‘blameless’, and then setting out to make it so.
Thomas Chisholm understood what this means, and by the Holy Spirit’s enlightening power we can sing his words with rejoicing in our hearts, when we say,
“Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
He has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And He is faithful.
Young believer, and if you are here today and you have never come to the place of believing the message of the cross of Christ and coming to Him by faith, I want to assure you today that the moment you believe, the moment you turn from sin to Christ and believe from your heart and are born spiritually from above by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit; from that moment, you are, in God’s economy, complete and blameless because He has declared you to be that, in Christ.
God is faithful. And He calls the imperfect, perfect. And then sets out to make it so. He is doing it with His church, and He is doing it in you. Sometimes you can’t see it; sometimes as we look around with eyes of flesh the very thought seems ridiculous.
But He who raises the dead and calls into being that which is not, is faithful. And in the end the church triumphant will kneel before Him, pure and holy, and bless His name perfectly and forever, in perfect unity, in perfect love, made so through Jesus Christ our Lord.
