1 Corinthians 6 (2)

Who Are We?

The gathering (the local church) is important for a number of reasons. One is that it’s where we Christians “go public” to declare our highest allegiance. It’s the outpost or embassy, giving a public face to our future nation. And it’s where we bow before our king, only we call it worship. The Pharaohs of the world may oppose us, but God draws his people out of the nations to worship him. He will form his mighty congregation.

The gathering is also where our king enacts his rule through preaching, the ordinances, and discipline. The gospel sermon explains the “law” of our nation. It declares the name of our king and explains the sacrifice he made to become our king. It teaches us of his ways and confronts us in our disobedience. And it assures us of his imminent return.

Jonathan Leeman,https://www.9marks.org/article/what-is-a-local-church/?utm_source=eml-article&utm_medium=eml-article&utm_campaign=eml-article&mc_cid=d2eab71e39&mc_eid=45bafd8af6

That is a rather long and complicated statement, but it does provide a place for us to settle as we listen to Paul’s challenges to believers in Corinth.

There are three questions in this section of Paul’s letter helping is further understand the ways in which we are radically distinct from the world around us.

Do you not know your ultimate assignment?

Whenever two believers get together there are likely to be three opinions - particularly if they are Baptists!

We have a history and heritage of being strongly opinionated and vocal about our differences.

In Corinth believers who had differences were taking their fellow believers to Roman courts.

One scholar writes these words about the Roman court system:

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (1. Legal Action by the Socially Influential as an Abuse of Power (6:1–11))

...the criminal courts of the Roman government to some reasonable extent could be respected as sources of relative justice (cf. Rom 13:1–7), the local civil magistrate’s courts allowed too much room for patronage and vested interest in the stance of local judges or the appointment of juries to reflect anything like even a near degree of integrity in comparison with major criminal courts. The wealthy, “influential,” and “clever” could manipulate social networks outside the church to their advantage and thereby, in effect, take advantage of the poor or “weak” within the congregation.

Paul doesn’t identify the issues involved. He does however remind these believers of their ultimate assignments:

a). participating in Christ’s judgment of the nations;

b). participating in Christ’s rule over all creation.

Paul does not explain these two statements in as much detail as we would like!

What is crystal clear, though, is as one with Christ, being united with Him through baptism and resurrection life we are destined for much greater responsibilities. If we are destined to be a people participating with Jesus in these types of responsibilities, why must we involve lost people in deciding questions and challenges among us?

We easily lose sight of our ultimate destination. Heaven is not just floating on clouds playing unfamiliar musical instruments.

Heaven is a place where believers will have responsibilities, assignments.

This life we are now experiencing is like basic training for an even greater and more fulfilling life in God’s presence for ever.

By taking eternally insignificant issues before non-believing judges, people in Corinth were simply demonstrating - we are just like the world around us.

But, in Christ we are NOT LIKE THE WORLD AROUND US!

Do you not know from what you were set free?

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 HCSB

Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The kingdom of God is not just something in the future.

Jesus taught us to pray - “May Your Kingdom Come…on earth as it is in heaven.”

This list (vs 9-10) is certainly not a comprehensive list of sins.

It is a reminder of the various types of sin from which God had set these people free.

For them to fall back into these behaviors is a clear sign of an untransformed life.

Paul’s statements in vs 9-11 are tied to his conclusion in vs 7-8. If believers are quarrelsome now, taking their disputes outside the community of faith they are simply demonstrating an unredeemed, untransformed life.

Following Jesus means a radically changed life. Most of us will not identify with the list in vs 9-10. We were ‘good’ people prior to coming to Jesus Christ - Has Jesus made aa noticeable difference in your life?

Do you remember from what Jesus set you free? I know its overused, but is there enough evidence to persuade those around you to identify you as a Christian?

Do you knot know you are one with Christ?

“But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17, HCSB)

An often abused truth - both in Corinth and in our own world - is this truth: we are one with Christ. One writer offers this definition:

This union may be defined as that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation.

L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 449.

Paul quotes back to the believers in Corinth two phrases he heard while living among them:

1 Corinthians 6:12–13 (HCSB)

“Everything is permissible for me,”... “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,”,,,

These slogans were used to justify allowing all sorts of behavior. After all, they reasoned, the body is destined for death, therefore whatever I choose to do ‘in the body’ cannot affect my ‘inner life with Christ.’

To this popular, yet unbiblical understanding Paul offers 6 positive affirmations:

(1) The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body (6:13b).

(2) The body is destined for resurrection through God’s power (6:14).

(3) The body is a member of Christ (6:15).

(4) The one who is joined to the Lord is “one with him in spirit” (6:17).

(5) The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19).

(6) Christians must honor God with their bodies because they have been bought at a price (6:20).

Mark Taylor, 1 Corinthians, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 153.

REFLECT AND RESPOND

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger shared the following story :

We told the story of the study of 600,000 heart patients in Simple Church. All of the patients were told to do a few simple things and they could have lived a long life. Change your diet. Quit smoking and drinking. Exercise. Reduce stress. That’s it. If the patients made the decisions to change in those areas, they would live. Conversely, if they made no changes, they would die. The researchers found that 90 percent of them had not made the lifestyle decisions to live. In essence, they were choosing to die. eBook_SimpleChurchCovid-final2.pdf

The gathering of believers in Corinth were outwardly a vibrant community. Paul, however, looked inside.

What he saw - division over non-essentials, boasting in tolerance of despicable behavior, and now petty quarrels - threatened to derail their one-ness in Christ.

If there are no differences between believers and the world, then why would anyone respond to the offer of the good news of Jesus?

Let me offer some simple decisions that can strengthen our union with Christ and with one another:

A. Focus on who you are in Christ

Take a passage such as Ephesians 1:3-14 -

Read it slowly to yourself every day this week...

B. Remember from where you came...’such were some of you...’

What difference has Jesus made in your life? Take a few moments this week and write out specifically how Jesus death and resurrection has changed you.

C. Celebrate our unity in Christ

We say we are ‘one family’ in Christ. Do our attitudes toward one another reflect that? In Jesus’ last message to His followers He gave them this charge:

John 13:34–35 HCSB

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

‘Church’ is not about how many songs were sung, how long the preacher droned on, or even how much money was given.

Church - as the NT defines and illustrates is a gathering of believers seeking to advance the cause of Christ.

I invite you to discover for yourself what God can do through His Son Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus died in your place and was raised again to give you new life you can discover new ways of living, new relationships with others who share a common faith...

…and together we can face a world that seems darker every day with a light that cannot be extinguished: the light of God’s presence as Jesus is made real in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.