Sustained By The Faithfulness Of God

Today we’re going to be in the first 9 verses of 1 Corinthians. While studying these verses, I came across a story that I’d like to share with all of you.

Oliver Cromwell

It’s a story of Oliver Cromwell. If you’re unaware of who he is, I’ll give you an extremely brief summary: he was a political and military leader in 17th century England who served as Lord Protector, or head of state, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland for a five-year period until his death in the mid 1600’s. When he was having his portrait painted, as people in a position like his would do, that when the portrait was painted, he looked at the picture and he said, “Where are my warts?” And the painter said, “Well, I thought you’d be glad that when I painted you, I took your warts off the painting…” And that’s when Oliver Cromwell made that famous statement, “A portrait should include warts and all.” And that made me think, how many of us, if we were having our portrait painted, would say something like, “No! Make me look better than I am.” I personally would want to ask, “Could you give me some more hair?”

“A portrait should include warts and all.”

The Warts of the Church in Corinth

And I say that because that’s exactly what we have in 1 Corinthians. Paul is painting a portrait of the church in Corinth. And he includes all of the warts.

Let’s look at just a few of the “warts” that Paul includes in his portrait about the church of Corinth.

The church in Corinth had the problem of division. They were a divided church.

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.”

— 1 Corinthians 1:10-11 (ESV)

2. They were a defiled church.

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”

— 1 Corinthians 5:1 (ESV)

So you can see how this is one messed-up church. Scholars and theologians believe that this type of relationship that Paul is talking about is with a stepmother, but the problem here is that the church thought it was okay.

3. They were a disgraced church.

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”

— 1 Corinthians 6:1 (ESV)

What this is saying is that members of the church were suing each other. Sounds like a healthy congregation with good fellowship going on, right?

At this point you might be wondering, how can all this be? Well, the problem isn’t that the church was in the town of Corinth. The problem wasn’t that the church was in a town full of sin and corruption, but the problem was that Corinth was in the church.

The church is in the world, but the world is not to be in the church.

Or think of it this way: a boat is out to sea. The boat is in the water, the boat is floating in the water, and all is good. But it’s when the water gets in the boat that what happens? It sinks.

So you might be saying, “well what’s the big deal about Corinth?” Well, I'll put it this way. Corinth is the ancient equivalent of Las Vegas.

An Internship

I’ll explain a bit what I mean by that. You see, in the summer of 2013, I lived in Las Vegas. I was an intern at a church there, Central Church. It was an absolutely incredible experience and it was the place that I truly realized that I really wanted to work, and devote my life to being in the church. However, I also learned that when you live in the heart of the city, you’re able to see a lot of what goes on. I lived in a building about 100 yards from the Strip called Panorama Towers.

Also, it’s important to my mom that you all know that it’s because of a family friend’s generosity that I was able to stay here. As you can see, while that was obviously an incredible place to live, it was incredibly nice, convenient, and had absolutely amazing views , and crazy security, I quickly learned firsthand why Vegas has the nickname of the town that doesn’t sleep.

It was unbelievable the hours that some of the residents that lived near me kept. From doors opening and closing all night, to some neighbors that decided 3 am was the perfect time to listen to bass-heavy electro-music. However, for me, what was unbelievably awesome was that if I was awakened any time during the night – because I was hungry and not at all by bass-heavy electro-music – there were tons of options. I actually looked up the restaurants within a 10 block radius that are open 24 hours and stopped counting at 40. But you get the point.