United in Christ

Intro

Well last week we finished an entire Summer’s long series on Moses and the Exodus. That story is so central to the rest of the Bible that it will come up constantly…But as we approached the fall and I began thinking and praying about what we might do I had two books in mind and 1 Corinthians is the one I believe that the Lord was leading me to. So we are going over the next number of weeks unpack this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth...

So Before I really intro what we are talking about today...

Who is Paul? What is Corinth and why does it matter?

If you’ve been around church for a bit then you know who Paul is but just in case you haven’t been around let me give you the recap.

Paul is the same guy as Saul of Tarsus.

Well Paul gives himself a number of introductions in different letters so I am going to let Paul tell his own story

Galatians 1:11–17 NIV

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

So what is impotrant to know about Paul is that he was a very strong Jew…In the book of Acts one of the first places that we meet Paul/Saul of Tarsus was when he was approving of the stoning of Stephen...

Paul was then on his way to Damascus and the text says “breathing out murderous threats” against those who followed Jesus and then Paul was confronted by the resurrected Jesus.

Paul then went to the desert of Arabia for three years to basically re-learn the scriptures in light of Jesus then Paul started out on the largest church planting mission that we have ever seen.

In Paul’s own mini AutoBiography he says that Jesus set him apart to preach to the gentiles…Gentiles is an untranslated word that means the nations...

So for thousands of years the Jews were largely fixated on the fact that they were the covenant people…the people with a relationship with God and Now Paul is saying…I have now been set apart to actually spread this faith to the nations.

And Embedded within Paul’s story is the fact that he was a bad guy…He persecuted people…He lent his voice to the killing of christians and he thought that he was doing something good as a result

So then how do we get the book of 1 Corinthians?

In Acts 18, It tells the story of Paul planting the church in Corinth

CORINTH PICTURE

So go ahead and put that picture up of Corinth.

Paul by trade was a tent-maker and tent makers also did things like repair sails...

Corinth is a port town so there would be a lot of need for sail repair and tents…In fact one of the coolest things I learned while studying about Corinth is that they would take the ships out of the sea with these large wheels and pulleys and they would pull them across the land to the sea on the other side

So Paul has strategically chosen this job probably for kingdom implications.

Paul is concerned with the gospel traveling all over the world and who in this day needs tents and sails?

Merchants and Military right? These are the two groups who travel in a big way

So Paul targets the people who he wants to reach so the gospel can travel far and wide.

Now as we read this you are going to pick up on the whole idea that Corinth is a sinful place

Because its a port town there is a lot of prostitution

There are many world religions represented, not just worship of the Roman Emperor but the Egyptian Isis cult had a large presence there too.

So this is the perfect place for Paul to plant a church...

But the problem 2 years after the planting of this church is that the culture of Corinth is seeping into the church in a big way...

So what we are reading from Paul here is probably one of the earliest writings that we have in the New Testament. Paul actually wrote this before the gospels were finished.

What is the letter all about?

The reason why I have wanted to get into this book is that every time that I read it, I see it as a massive re-centering of our faith…

Here is what I mean, When I was a kid and played baseball and I got into those years where more advanced baseball was being played…after a while you play a game where everyone is missing ground balls…And pulling their heads when they swing..>After a while people are throwing wild…

So what does the coach always do?

The Next practice is always going back to the basics…And when you go back to the basics…you get your game back on track…and this is what Paul is doing with 1 Corinthians

Also

There is a Major temptation in any church

The temptation is to take culture that is all around them

And no church does this on purpose…because they want to…But it quietly slips in until all of the sudden

Let me give you the perfect example...

The church in China is thriving amidst awful persecution. They are meeting in secret all over the country and growing. They dont have buildings…Lights…Cameras…any of that stuff and they are growing like crazy..

But in America we have taken on the entertainment culture that is America…I mean in once sense its not wrong what we are doing…Lights..>Cameras…worship band…engaging speaker…In a certain sense we pander to the culture that we are in by taking it on...

And while there is nothing wrong with these things…what happens when your culture is full of prostitution and exploiting people and lawsuits and things like this....Well what happens if the church takes these things on as well?

On Theologian, Bruce Winter says it this way: “Paul was responding to problems which were created by the influence of secular ethics or social conventions this nascent Christian Community. They may have crept into the church imperceptibly and grown with the passage of time”

All of this to say…When Paul Left…This church was great…But now! It is messy and messed up!

So today we are looking at 1 Corinthians 1:1-17…Paul is absolutely working to win back a church that is lost...

1 Corinthians 1:1 NIV

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

Ok we have to go slow so we are just going to start here

Just in verse 1, Paul is using a rare assortment of words…

He absolutely wants to remind this church that he is their spiritual authority…

I mean when you begin comparing Pauls words here to his other letters…for instance…

Lets look at two other churches really fast:

Philippians 1:1 NIV

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

He calls himself and Timothy “Servants of Christ” He doesn't have to throw around the Apostle word...

He does’t have to say this is God’s will He just writes to them as equals

1 Thessalonians 1:1 NIV

Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

Here is is just like…Grace and Peace to you I love you guys...

But to the church in Corinth…He has to say…I am called by God…I am an apostle...

He is basically beating his chest a little and taking back spiritual authority over this church

Now as I say that…We need to go down two roads of thought.

1. Paul absolutely believes in the priesthood of all believers. He absolutely believes that God empowers all of his people to be priests in the kingdom…So if you are here this morning and you put your faith and allegiance in Jesus…then he wants you to be a priest in His kingdom and you have a high level of responsibility!

2. However: God also calls people into roles of spiritual authority. God has called me into a position of spiritual authority at this church, He has called me in a position of authority in our district to oversee people who are becoming pastors

And what Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 1 is saying God has called me to be your authority…You’d do really good to listen to me!

I love what Watchman Nee says about Spiritual Authority. He says “only those who are subject to Spiritual Authority can be in Spiritual Authority...”

So in Pauls mind, He has to be bold in his writing but Spiritual Authority is not from bold moves of power

Not from winning a popularity contest

not from exerting your own power with force

the kind of spiritual authority that Jesus talked about was one that gives up of one self to serve

The point that he is making is while Apostle sounds like some kind of authoritarian title…

An Apostle in Jesus’ kingdom is one who is willing to become the least of everyone and to serve

Submitting to spiritual authority is so important in your walk with Jesus, good spiritual authority will hold you accountable , it will challenge you to go deeper in your walk with Jesus, and a good spiritual authority in your life will walk with you through the toughest times

but we all know what bad spiritual authority looks like

Sex scandals in both the Catholic and protestant churches in recent years have revealed a gross miss use of spiritual authority.

financial abuse by Christian leaders have caused people to leave the church in droves and not only that but it wounds their own sense of spirituality.

Spiritual authority is a very important and a very powerful…and when it is abused it leaves a debris trail a thousand miles long!

So Point 1, in this first chapter…Learn to submit to spiritual authority…Lets keep going

1 Corinthians 1:2–9 NIV

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ok Look in Verse 2 Here

“To those sanctified in Christ “

Now you have to remember that what Paul will address in this letter is, lawsuits among believers, people sleeping with their step mothers..>classism in the church…pagan worship…prostitution and more

He must have been tempted to say...”You are so unholy” To the worst church out there...

But he says to the sanctified...

It is a reminder that their holiness is a gift from God, something given to them by the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the cross...

Paul wants to remind the church that they are called to be holy.

Its also a reminder that we are called to be God’s holy people

We are called to be set apart from the world...

And yet…Paul wants this church united…In verse two here he will use this phrase about Jesus, “Their Lord and Ours” it is a phrase that Paul will use subtilty to unveil one of the big themes of 1 Corinthians

Paul wants to remind the church that they need to live in unity with Jesus and one another.

But what is the source of Unity

On the screen I have 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 and hi-lighted are the times that Paul mentions Jesus Christ...

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Hilights on screen

9 times in 9 verses….

What do you think Paul is trying to do in this letter?

This is a reminder that the church is being pulled apart and divided by these polarizing personalities….

But the church actually belongs to Jesus…Paul will make that argument later in 1 Corinthians that Jesus is the head of the church…

And now Paul doesn’t waste any time, he gets into the heart of the matter!

1 Corinthians 1:10–17 NIV

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

I dont know if you can tell…But Paul is Mad...

he is like…what is with the following of individual preachers? I mean yeah different people preach different ways and you might learn more from one person than another but dont set them up as idols…none of you are united in Dave…You better not be...

We are united in Christ!

Paul uses this argument…WAS I Crucified for you? Is Christ Divided? Whose name were you baptized into?

One of the main tasks of the church is unity with each other through Jesus Christ

Paul Points out division : Paul is saying to the church..>Are you really fighting each other? And on top of that, you have now developed your pet preachers who you want to listen to?

No repent from all of that…You have to be unified moving forward

We have to remember that Jesus invited his disciples to unity and in his disciples were a zealot, a tax collector and someone who would betray Jesus

John 17:20–23 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The prayer of Jesus is that in our fellowship at church that we would experience the same unity that Jesus experiences in the trinity! Do you get that? This is huge!

Jesus wants you and I to experience loving other people in the church the same way that God loves us

He wants us to experience being in the same mind

He wants us to experience being loved by the church in the same way that Jesus loves us...

Jesus wants us to experience this unity in powerful and profound ways

Jesus wants you to be rescued from loneliness, isolation and alienation…and he wants you to experience this community that is totally centered on the love of Jesus

AND THIS IS WHAT PAUL IS MAD AT THE CHURCH FOR!

He is like are you crazy when people walk in these doors they should just experience this crazy unity

But in Corinth....Division was working its way though the church

So Paul write all of this about 20 years after Jesus’ crucifixion… I think many of us have this rosy picture of the early church that all was well and that there was almost a purity to it…

But just 20 years after Jesus was crucified the church was fighting over who baptized who , the church took the values of status and power that existed in Corinth and brought them into the Church of Jesus .

and this is what Paul is so upset about in this letter and we will continue to see people are taking the value system of the world and overlaying it into the value system of God's Kingdom. Paul will repeatedly hit on this

and you know what?

When you forsake spiritual authority in your life, it is easy to allow the value system of the world Infiltrate your faith.

Lastly…and I want to end with this Probably one of the all time greatest lines in the book of 1 Corinthians is this

1 Corinthians 1:17 NIV

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

The value of OF CORINTH was based on who could speak the best…Corinth was seated in a region of great philosophers…and these people would orate in the public square and win you with their arguments…and they would get paid biased on the elegance of their speech…They are the ones everyone would follow

And what Paul is saying is my mission is simple: I'm not here to craft the best or the most eloquent speech with a philosophers wisdom… in fact doing this would empty the cross of its power…

Because the cross is not human wisdom!

The cross is crazy! We believe in a messiah who to put it in today’s terms…

Was a convicted felon who got the death penalty but then beat death…

Don’t try to apply human wisdom to it because it is divine wisdom

Here is what I want to leave you with this morning:

Paul’s heartbeat was that this church would be united….That it wouldn’t fall into the trap of the popularity contest! Paul wanted a church with a heart that would beat as

one, united in its savior

Paul is trying to recenter them on the gospel and the utter simplicity of the cross

that Jesus took our place , that Jesus took our punishment

I think Paul was trying to remind the church that when you follow Jesus you lay down the wisdom of this world and begin to operate on the wisdom of the cross…

Response:

Friends. I don’t know if you have noticed but we are moving into an election year that will be highly divisive…It already is....

Are you going to allow the ethic of this world to creep into your heart

The way to be united with others is to be united with Jesus first Don’t let divisiveness creep into this place because we know who the author of divisiveness is!

What are you surrendered to?

Your own voice and authority or good spiritual authority?

Where is your allegiance this morning?

Do you sustain yourself on words of human wisdom or do you find yourself in the cross.

Lets pray