INTRO - THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH
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INTRO:
INTRO:
- Today we begin to look at a new book of the bible. We are going to be looking at the book at 1 Corinthians. As we prayed about what book to look at for this season, this book stood out to us.
- And the reason why is because of the parallel of the culture that the church in Corinth found itself in was very similar to what our current culture is like. Many of the same struggles and issues that the church in Corinth had are the same things we see within the church.
- And so as we always say, though the bible was written hundreds of years ago, we will see that the bible is very applicable to our lives today. When we study this book, we will see how relevant this book is to us today.
- Many times our minds can check out as we look at stories in the bible or certain books and think, “well this has nothing to do with me”…….
- This is one of the books I would say has more to say to us than any other book in this season because we as a church find ourselves in the same place that this church did hundreds of years ago. With the same problems, the same mindset, the same dangers , the same warnings and if not care….. we can see the same consequences take place in our lives.
- So today we are just going to lay the foundation of the City of Corinth and the Church in Corinth because these two separate entities actually began to look like one in the same.
Transition
Paul Starting the Church
- The church in Corinth started while Paul the apostle was on his second missionary journey. We actually have the start of the church in Acts 18.
- Paul found himself traveling through the area of Macedonian , the area of Greece and he found himself in the City of Athens in Acts 17.
- The City of Athens was an important city in the Roman empire, it would be considered the intellectual center of the Roman empire. A place where people sat around and thought and discussed different philosophies and opinions by these intellectual men.
- They discussed the meaning of life, the different religious and gods, different viewpoints to a thought or a religion or the interpretation of certain things. A place that welcomed different thoughts and opinions as a form of discussion and contemplation.
- We would see these intellectual men in Acts 17 ask Paul to come up to the Areopagus in Athens where these men would sit and discuss these different view points and new thoughts. They wanted to hear what Paul had to say about this Gospel message he preached and about this man named Jesus he preached about.
- This is important to keep in mind as we look at the City of Corinth, this thought process in Athens.
- Paul would leave Athens and would make his way down to Corinth which was some 50 miles away, were he would meet and stay with a couple by the name of Aquila and Priscilla. Paul would stay here in Corinth for a period of 18 months, or 1 .5 years.
- during this time, Paul along with Aquila and Priscilla worked in the day as tent makers and they preached the gospel after work and on the Sabbath.
- There were many people who would come to faith in Jesus during these 18 months that Paul spent in the City living and working with the people. This opened the opportunities for Paul to preach to the people. This was the start of the church.
- We see that even the ruler of the Synagogue would come to faith in Jesus, Crispus.
- Acts 18:
Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
- Later we would see another ruler of the Synagogue named Sosthenes came to faith in Christ. This man once brought Paul before the Procounsel or governor of Achaia , Gallio to proclaim judgement on him.
And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.” And he drove them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.
- At some point even this man Sosthenes became a believer as Paul makes mention of him in this letter to the Corinthian church.
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1 Cor. 1:1
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
- so this man became a christian after persecuting Paul, this was the start of the Corinthian church. Now after 18 months Paul would leave Corinth and would go to Ephesus.
Transition – Paul writes this letter
-Now Paul would write a series of letters to the Corinthian church. We have 2 recorded in the bible, but it is believe that possibly 2 other letters were written that were not preserved.
- This specific letter was written by Paul from Ephesus. And the reason why he writes this is because of what Paul heard about them. In chp 1 Paul tells us that he has heard about different issues that were going on in the church by the household of Chole. So someone from this house in Corinth sent a letter to Paul to describe what was going on.
- Lets just say that you were on a relief trip to Florida as we have a team there right now. And lets say that your parents get a phone call from jay saying how lazy you are, and how dirty you are, you haven’t showered , you haven’t brushed your teeth. You are basically doing what you want and Jay is threatened to throw you into the allegator infested water if you don’t get it together.
- Well what any good parent might do is call you and call into question everything that jay complained about you and to yell at you to get it together.
- I personally would just say…. Throw Maddie in the lake if she can’t figure it out. Lol.
- That is a simple way of seeing what is happening in this letter. Paul is correcting the church because of the things he has heard about them and he doesn’t have a cell phone, so he writes a letter.
- Now in order to understand the issues the church is having, we have to understand the culture and the geographical location of the city because these things will play into the main problems that existed.
Transition – The background of the City
The City of Corinth was a very important and wealthy city in the Roman empire. As we mentioned already, this Corinth was located some 50 miles from Athens which was considered the intellectual center of the world at this time.
The City of Corinth was built hundreds of years before Paul had arrived, it was built on an Ismus, a small piece of land that was surround by two bodies of water.
PICTURES- 1-2
There are several reasons why this City was both important and wealthy.
It was an important trade route.
because where the City was located , there were two main ports on either side of the Ismus. Anytime you had ports for ships to come, the city would become a transportation and trade city, which produced many different people from all over and much trade which produced money.
now if you look at the PIC 1 you can see the area that would have to be sailed if you wanted to take goods anywhere from the East to the other side of the city of Corinth. Now this portion of the sea at the bottom here was one of the worse to sail.
so rather than having to sail all the way to the bottom of the difficult seas risking time, cargo and ship wreck...... what people ended up doing is they would unload the cargo at one port and would carry it over the 4 miles of land , they would even roll boats over this area...... PIC 2
this produced a lot of jobs, a lot of trading and a lot of money, this would take place in the market place or the Agora PIC 3
2. It was a religious destination
there were two main temples in this city that were erected. 1 was for Apollos PIC3 & the temple of Aphrodite PIC 4
people would come to see these great temples and to worship at them. People would worship the goddess Aphrodite by having relationships with the 1,000 temple prostitutes that would be at this temple. Now it is believed that this practice had stopped before Paul’s time here, but there is no doubt by what we read in this letter, that the spirit of sexual immorality had continued.
3. It was a place where they held the Isthmian Games
these were the second most important games next to the Olympics. These games were held here at Corinth every other year so you can imagine both the prestige and the amount of people and money the City would see during the games.
Transition - The Character of the City
the reason i’m bringing all this up is because all of these things helped to play a roll into the character of the City. The City was important and influencial, it was wealthy .... it was diverse in people, in culture and in beliefs. Because of the closeness to Athens, the city was open to different philosophies and open to different opinions on truth and open to different believes. The City was known for its freedom in sexual activities.
The City of Corinth would be like Las Vegas today, where everything goes. It was in this City with this character that Paul came to and preached the gospel message. He preached one truth, one way of salvation by faith in Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. It was this message that began to change the lives of the people who were a part of this world.
And while Paul was here for 18 months, God did an amazing work. Think about how crazy it would sound to say today, we are going and start a church right in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. That is what Paul did, and people were saved and transformed by the message of the cross.
Transition - The Character of the Church
now some time had passed and Paul is no longer in Corinth and he begins to hear about the things that are taking place within the City. And what you begin to find out is that the church had lost it’s focus.
they had forgotten who they were and what they were supposed to do.
THEY FORGOT WHO THEY WERE
these believers were members of the body of Christ, they had been adopted into the family of God, they had been called to be separate and holy unto God.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
THEY FORGOT WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO
they were called to go out and make disciples
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
they were called to be a light to a dark world.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Transition - The failure of the Church
- as a result of the church forgetting who they were and what they were supposed to do..... they allowed themselves to be influenced by the culture around them.
“Local culture will always impact the local church”.
- The local culture will always leave it’s finger prints on the people of God and the church of God.
- In Corinth, the church was a reflection of the culture in the City. They had adopted the thoughts and behavior of the culture around them.
- The church was a carnal church (fleshly). Part of the problem with being a carnal church, is that it kept them from doing what God had called them to do. To influence the culture around them for Christ.
- but instead, the church had been influenced by the culture around it.
- the church will fail to be who were are called to be when the church forgets who we are and what we are called to do…. To be unique and separate from the world, holy.
- the church fails when it adopts the practices and the thoughts of the culture rather that which is outlined in the scriptures, in the word of God.
and this is exactly what happened to the church in Corinth. They began to adopt the thoughts and practices of the world around them and all of a sudden , you have a church that was supposed to be different, that was supposed to be separated and holy...... looks and acts just like the culture around it.
- Paul writes this letter both to correct these things that have entered the church but also to redirect their focus back to who they are and what they are called to do...... Paul is redirecting their focus back to the central message of the gospel and the cross.
Transition
lets take a look at the failures of the church in Corinth
CAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF THE CHRUCH
SPIRIT OF THE CULTURE HAD INVADED THE CHURCH
1. Intellectual Freedom was invited and accepted.
2. Human wisdom was Glorified
as we have mentioned already , because of Athens being so close, because of the different people making their way through the city, their was an intellectual freedom. Every idea was accepted and welcomed.
- there was a diversity of opinion. “whatever idea you have is acceptable”
- what you believe is good for you even if I don’t believe that.
this desire to question truth and to accept every philosophy as truth for that individual entered the church.
That leads us to the Theme of this book for this season
“THE DECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH”
We are playing on words with this. Because the City of Corinth and the church of Corinth would eventually all be destroyed. You can go and visit this City today and you can see the ruins that are left behind. PIC 5 & 6
but this phrase of “Deconstruction” has entered our society and the church over the last few years. And in a nutshell what that word is speaking of..... is the ....
Critical Questioning of Beliefs / Traditions
Rejecting those in a position of Authority who speak on behalf of
you see this playing out in our society today. people questioning history, question and rejecting authority ......
This human philosophy has entered our society and now the church that has lead people to question their beliefs of the bible, and traditions based on the bible. They question whether the bible is actually God’s word, if Jesus is really God, they question if there is an absolute truth.
and what you end up having is people who have began to adopt certain ways of thinking that are no longer based on facts and truth.... but are based on feelings..... and my own thoughts, my own opinions.
the words you will often hear now and days is … My Journey, My truth , my feelings , my movement ......
everything is very self oriented. Its all about me.
and there are a lot of worldly philosophies that people are trying to throw at us as truth.... like
Critical Race Theory, they try to say that all white people are born racist. Its like we as Christians say that we are all born in sin, they teach that all white people are racist and evil. This is being taught in some high schools and colleges as truth.
that there are many genders..... there is no longer just a male or female.... but now you can be many different genders. This is also being taught in schools as truth.
Relative Truth..... the teaching that there is no absolute truth… They are teaching that what is true for one person does not mean it is true for someone else.
these are just a few things ways of thinking that are part of the culture we live in, but these are the things that have entered the church. And you have many people like you who grew up in the church, and who did not have a solid foundation in their faith.... begin to go down this path.
they start adopting the ways of thinking of the world. They begin to question truth, question the bible, question if God exists, question the resurrection, reject those who are in authority and those who speak on behalf of God.
and you may look around and are thinking well thats not me..... but even as i stand here i can see the effects of rejecting authority and rejecting God’s word and of Rejecting those who speak on behalf of God. Even in our youth group there is the fighting to not be a part of things, fighting every chance they get to not go along with everyone , they always want to do their own thing, they want to be different, they want to push the limits.
Transition
now for the Church of Corinth they allowed these philosophies into their church and their lives and as a result it cultivated certain practices within their lives.
THE SYMTHOMS OF THE FAILURE OF THE CHURCH
3. Moral Laxity
the church in Corinth began to allow sexual perverseness in the church. We will look at this in chp.5. They were doing things that was so crazy , not even the world was doing these things and they were allowing it in the church. They began to act in the flesh .
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- intellectual permissiveness leads to moral laxity. It caused the lowering of moral standards.
- When you believe all things are acceptable , that leads to a lowering of the moral standard. Every thought is acceptable, therefore every action is acceptable. 1 Cor. 5
There is no absolute truth so i can do whatever i feel is right.
and this is true in our lives. When we reject God’s word as truth in our lives, it gives us the freedom to do whatever we want. Nothing will be off limits. if i want to have an abortion, who are you to tell me it’s wrong.
if you want marry someone of the same sex, go for it...... if you want to do drugs , go for it...... You get what i am saying..... when there is no measuring rod to use to measure your life...... you will convince yourself to do anything and think it is right.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
4. Personal Selfishness
- Everyone did what was right in their own eyes in the church of Corinth. There was no concern for others. This is the reason Paul would have to address about Love in chp. 13.
- these were only the symptoms of the problem. The main problem was that they had forgotten the central message of the cross and had replaced it with human wisdom and opinion.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This is a verse that was standing out all week to me. Paul makes it clear that there is a fight to conform our way of thinking. The world who is lead by Satan is pushing to conform our minds to certain things. To get us to think certain things are right, certain things are not bad..... to get us to question God’s word, to get us to question truth.
and he knows that if he can get us to question these things and to believe certain things, then he will be able to make us ineffective as tools in the hands of God. if we are not careful , we will not influence the world around us because we will already be like the world.
QUESTION
WHAT ARE THE THINGS I HAVE ALLOWED IN MY LIFE THAT ARE LIKE THE WORLD?
WHO DOES MY LIFE LOOK LIKE MORE TODAY, JESUS OR THE CULTURE AROUND ME?
If we are not careful we can begin to allow the deconstruction of our faith. This is what happened to the Corinthian church and they ended up in ruins after time. This too can happen to you and i. So as we look at this book we want to look at the corrections Paul will make and we want to pay close attention to these things, so that we don’t fall into the same trap the Church in Corinth fail into.