1 Corinthians 1:1-9

The book of 1st Corinthians was written to a church established by Paul in Acts 18. He spent 18 months of his life working and preaching among the people of Corinth, and saw several converted in that time. Beginning with the Jewish community, Paul saw both Jews and Gentiles convert to Christ. At the time of writing, the church was young, and no one there had been saved more than 6 years or so. While some of the people here had the ethical background of the various strains of Judaism in the first century, the majority of the members had been saved out of pagan idol worship. Just so you understand what kind of paganism Paul was dealing with, there was a temple dedicated to the greek goddess Aphrodite there, and had over 1,000 temple prostitutes that participated in the worship of the goddess through acts of sex. Imagine trying to have church with a whorehouse next door! The church was in a city that didnt have any direct persecution, but the nature of the society they were in was a constant threat to the individual Christians and the life of the church itself. Corinth was a sea port city that seen massive amounts of trade travel, and in the people this led to a massive love of pleasure and things that gave them pleasure. It was full of people who wanted to make money and have fun. You may be thinking the same thing I thought. Who would want to start a church in a place like that?! This is something I want to bring to your attention. We often want to plant churhces or start ministries in a place that is already primed with Christian ideals and teachings. This wasnt the case in Pauls day. He looked past the idolatry and sin and saw a people who desperately needed Jesus! Paul began preaching the gospel and saw enough people come to Jesus that a church was planted, and it was to these people who wanted to serve Jesus that Paul writes this letter.

the theme of 1st Corinthians is best summed up in the phrase “You’re a Christian, Act Like It” Paul deals with how to live as a Christian in a world that is increasingly more and more godless. We also live in a world that is increasingly more secular world. A world that wants us to define life totally apart from God and his word. While the church has opportunities it has never had before, it also has pressures, problems, and questions it has never experienced before. All of these things point to the truth of our need for a word from God that will gives us a model for living the Christian life in a pagan world. Yes this was written to the Corinthians, but the same Holy Ghost that inspired Paul to write this book is the same Spirit that lives in each of us today. With that said, I thank God that you are here today, and I pray that you would pray for me in the coming weeks as we go through this book together. There is an inexhaustible mine of truth to be had from the book of 1st Corinthians,and today is just the beginning. In preparing to preach through this book, I was reminded of a book I read some years ago titled “I am a Church Member”, and it is with that thought of being a church member that I want to approach this book. What does being a church member mean? How do we live out being a faithful, dedicated, discipled church member? All of these questions and more will be answered as we journey through this book together. If you have a Bible, open in to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. The Bible says:

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

2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Greeting:

Paul begins this letter as he does all of his other letters, by affirming his calling and authority as an apostle. There were those in corinth who had doubted this, and Paul states first of all that he was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. If you notice something in Pauls writings, when he was writing to churches that didnt question his authority, he simoly used his name. On the other hand, whenever his authority was questoned he referred to himself as an apostle. Paul didnt go around like a lot of so called apostles today, demanding to be known by his title. Let me make this clear. If you are apostolic in any way, shape, or form, it will be evident in your life. You wont need others to use a title to refer to you. He reminds them of the relationship he and the people at Corinth share. He also doesnt use the typical ‘grace and peace’ of his day, but goes further by saying this grace and peace comes through the Lord Jesus. His expansion of a phrase that meant little more than hello does today became a reminder of Gods grace in their lives. He shares another commanality with them in the word called. He says he was called to be an apostle, and reminds them that they are called to be saints. and he doesnt just say that they are saints, he says they are sanctified in Jesus. He is reminding them of their dual-fold holiness. They are sanctified in Jesus, set apart for the work of God, and because of this sanctifying grace at work in their lives, they are called to be saints! The word called here is interesting because it speaks to something that no human can do on their own. In the greek language it means ‘divinely selected and appointed’

Think about that for a moment. Go back and read the text again, but instead of called insert the phrase ‘divinely selected and appointed’

look at verses 1 &2

Paul, divinely selected and appointed to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God

to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, divinely selected and appointed to be saints

When we look at who we are in Christ as a callling, we have to remember that it isnt us who does the calling, but God who divinely selects and appoints us in and through Christ Jesus! if you are a church member, you have been called! but not only called, but the Bible says that we are sanctified. The word sanctified means set apart for holy things.

Welcome to Corinth