The Glorious Divine Family

Introduction:

2 Reasons I felt led to preach through 1 Corinthians:

(1) I believe Paul’s task in this letter is the natural next step for our church. We have looked at the glorious foundation of the Church in Acts and we are spending time thinking about the glorious identity of the Church as God’s covenant people, as a divine family. Thus, the natural next step is to ask what does it look like to live as a member of this divine family in our world. Paul’s efforts here in his first-ish letter to the church in Corinth expertly models what it looks like to wade through that question.

(2) I believe that the Christians in the city of Corinth and twenty-first century Christians face remarkably similar situations. If you know me well at all, you know that I absolutely love books. Maybe you do as well. One of the fastest-growing nonfiction categories today is “self-help.” If you were to click on the “self-help” genre on Amazon, you would land on a page that offers “featured categories.” These categories include Sex, personal transformation, relationships, success, happiness, communication and social skills, and self-esteem. Thus, it seems that people today are turning to a wide array of authors to find their identity, purpose, and direction. The same was true of those living in ancient Corinth. Corinth was a prosperous and pluralistic city, one that bred the sort of self-satisfying spirit we are so surrounded by today. One commentator writes that “The ideal of the Corinthian was the reckless development of the individual. The merchant who made his gain by all and every means, the man of pleasure surrendering himself to every lust, and the athlete steeled to every bodily exercise and proud of his physical strength, are the true Corinthian types: in a word, the man who recognized no superior and no law but his own desire.” (Um, 16) In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a Church thoroughly planted in that kind of culture and working through those sorts of issues. Amid all of the cultural goings-on of Corinth, Paul is helping the Corinthian Christians wrestle through questions such as: “How are we to handle disagreements among God’s people? What does a Christian sexual ethic look like when promiscuity is the cultural norm? In what way does the gospel shape the institution of marriage? How should we relate to the cultural customs and practices of those with whom we disagree on matters of faith? How can the gospel tear down barriers that we have built between others and ourselves?” (Mu) We could go on and on, but you get the point. In this letter, the apostle Paul is writing to Christians wrestling with many of the same issue we are and seeking to exemplify how we should look at every aspect of life through the lens of the gospel. In our passage this morning, we see him begin by encouraging the Corinthians and centering everything on the grace of God, on the gospel and its transformative, community making power.

Summary of Passage:

Paul begins this letter by reminding the Corinthians of their glorious identity in Christ, an identity that is both personal and corporate.

The Church is Sanctified (Made Holy)

the term sanctification denotes separation. This takes place in us when we are regenerated by the Spirit to newness of life, that we may serve God and not the world” (Calvin)

The Church is Called (to be Holy)

“God’s calling has a goal or a telos—holiness. Because the Corinthians have been called by God through the preaching of the gospel to faith in Jesus Christ, their lives should manifest this holiness which flows out of their faith in Christ. The Corinthians cannot live like godless Gentiles any longer.” (Riddlebarger)

Michael Horton puts it, “We are holy (definitive sanctification), therefore, we are to be holy (progressive sanctification). Although we are not saved by works, we are saved for works.”

Titus 2:14 ESV

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Church is Gifted (for Holiness)

Calvin writes that the Greek word here “means to be in want of what you would otherwise stand in need of. He means, therefore, that the Corinthians abound in all the gifts of God, so as not to be in want of anything, as if he had said, “The Lord has not merely honoured you with the light of the gospel, but has eminently endowed you with all those graces that may be of service to the saints for helping them forward in the way of salvation.”

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

This is great encouragement, but it almost doesn’t compute with the rest of the letter. As we learn more and more about the situation in Corinth, we find that their experience is not lining up with the glory of their identity. What does this tell us? It tells us that the foundation for our encouragement is not exactly what we experience but what we know to be true, what we are striving towards! It tells us that the foundation for encouragement is not how well we are performing but how faithful God is to accomplish what he has set out to do in and through Christ! Paul intentionally begins this letter, which will later be full of reproof, by drawing everyone’s attention to Christ! Look at how Christ saturated our text this morning really is! The Lord is referenced 10 times in 9 verses!

Brothers and sisters, hear the Word of the Lord this morning. If you have trusted in Christ and received Him as your personal Lord and Savior, if you are a part of the Church of God, you do not need to go searching in every nook and cranny for your identity, purpose, and direction! It can all be found in the fact that you have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart for God, adopted into His family, called to be a saint, and gifted with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! You are infinitely valuable! So valuable, in fact, that the same God who knit you together in the womb, who knew you before the foundation of the world, knowing all that you would ever do in rebellion against him, willingly gave His life that you may experience fellowship with Him. Moreover, the same can be said of those sitting to your left and right. See, the Lord Jesus gave His life that we may experience fellowship with Him, but also that we may experience relationship with one another in Christ! The gospel is transformative and community making event, and the community it makes is to reflect the God who made it!