1 Corinthians 1:1-3

A Critical CrossRoad

Winston - like Corinth - exists at a crossroads - north and south, east and west…but more importantly, we are at what many might call a critical crossroad. COVID and its aftermath have changed the culture of our families, community and our church.

We are never going to return to a pre-COVID life. While masks may no longer be the mandated norm, most of us still exercise extra diligence about avoiding diseases and accepting multiple vaccines.

The question before us today is not how do we get back to what we were. Rather the real question is where do we go from here?

Recently I noted in my journal the following three prayer challenges for 2023.

I am praying for a renewed passion to share the gospel with the lost people around us;

I am praying for a renewed passion to serve our church and community;

I am praying for a renewed passion to fulfill God’s purpose for our fellowship in our community and in our world.

One of Paul’s letters in the NT is addressed to a community that remarkably like ours.

Corinth, founded by Julius Caesar in 44BC was a relatively new experiment in the Roman world. Winston has only existed as a city for about 60 years.

Julius Caesar populated the city with three types of people: (1) freedmen, (2) his own veterans, and (3) urban trades persons and laborers.

Winston is comprised of families with roots in Oregon, military veteran transplants from all across the US and trades people - people whose skills are in service oriented jobs - construction, mills, logging, and more and more health care and service industries like food service, schools, and so on.

Though founded by a Roman Emperor, Corinth was a long way from Rome!

Winston, though part of Oregon is not like the Oregon most people from out of the state recognize. As Rob Walker, Region 4 church health strategist says, we live in the non-skinny jean part of Oregon.

Placed strategically between north and south and east and west trade routes, Corinth had multiple religious identities. Greek gods, goddesses, Roman deities, and by the time of Paul the beginnings of a cult of emperor worship.

Winston, with connections north and south via I-5 and Hwy 99, and east and west via Hwy 42 also has a variety of religious traditions.

Many claim a form of Christianity, though the majority have no connection with a particular church. The Christianity that is most observed in our part of the world revolves around being good, moral people. Church is optional and only a vague connection with God’s Word is important.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians will expose us to some of the challenges he experienced AND we will find some similarity in our own midst.

Who are we really?

As was the custom in first century letters the author always introduces himself first. We will learn much more about Paul as we spend some time in this letter.

Our focus for this morning is to recover a clear sense of our identity as believers. The three prayer concerns I mentioned earlier all have their roots in clearly recognizing our identity - not just as individual believers, but our identity with God’’s people throughout our world.

THE CHURCH OF GOD

A recently published novel by Jeff Christopherson illustrates the struggle of several believers. One of the characters is a pastor of a large mega-church. At one point in the novel this successful pastor acknowledges that in order to lead his church to grow as he desired, he had allowed his kingdom to quench the kingdom of God. Church became his world and his identity as a person was determined by statistics - growth from year to year validated his efforts. But through a series of circumstances this successful pastor is humbled by a recent immigrant, a recent convert from a Muslim country into acknowledging that in order to create ‘his’ kingdom, he had singlehandedly quenched the kingdom of God.

First and foremost as a church we do not belong to ourselves or a denomination, or even a pastor. We are God’s possession. Paul having wrestled with this in his own life identifies totally as one belonging to God and God alone - vs 1 (see also Gal 1:11-17).

It is important to remember that Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila founded the church in Corinth(see Acts 18).

However he held no claim on the he could have clearly stated that the church was ‘his.’ But it is not his. The church is God’s.

AS GOD’S PEOPLE...

Our identity as the people of God is clearly defined in Paul’s understanding of God’s church:

“those sanctified in Christ Jesus...”

One characteristic of those living in Corinth was a tendency to self-promotion. They were effective at speaking and acting in ways that assured others would think the very best of them.

Any one who has visited Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik-Tok quickly is introduced to a a collection of interesting people - all who seem to be promoting their own personalities.

Not much has changed in the last 2,000 years.

Later in his opening paragraphs Paul will identify several in the congregation of believers who are serious self-promoters.

Before addressing those challenges Paul reminds his audience that all of them - without exception - owe their identity as believers to the sanctifying work of Jesus. He has done all that is necessary to set us apart, to qualify us for the presence of God.

No one can claim any access to God except for what Jesus has done.

“…called to be saints...”

There is a deliberate connection between Paul’s self-understanding and his understanding of those with who he had shared the gospel.

Like himself believers in Corinth were not a self-sufficient community. They exist because God called them, just as God had called Paul.

“…with all those who…in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This past week Cindy, Megan, and I travelled from Winston to Lincoln City to Salem to Portland. Meg then boarded a plane bound for Washington DC while Cindy and I returned home.

We passed through multiple cities, villages, and small towns on our short journey. In every town we saw at least one church - one building where people gather just like we do here week after week.

Although we often feel isolated and dis-connected the fact is we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.

Next Steps

As we spend time over the next few Sunday’s (OK, probably more than a few!) let’s focus on more than just the words on a page.

Let me ask you to join with me in the following ‘New Years Resolutions:’

We as the people of Community Baptist Church resolve to:

ask God to re-ignite a passion to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our family, our neighbors, and the world in which we live;

ask God to give us a clear direction for serving our community; and

ask God for a clear assignment for each of us to assist our faith community in fulfilling God’s purpose for us.