The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 2: "Greetings, Holy Corinthians", 1 Cor. 1: 1-9

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 2: 1 Cor. 1:1-9 Greetings, Holy Corinthians! Out of a broken heart, full of anguish, and anger, Paul set out to address the Corinthian church. So many issues. So little time. Where to begin? How about with a standard greeting that every person who wrote letters back then used? For us in the 21st century, at least for those who still write letters, we put our names at the end. Not them. Not then. The author’s name was the first thing the reader saw. Now, I like that way better! At least I don’t have go searching for who wrote it. And so we have the author: Paul, and his co-worker in Christ, Sosthenes. 1 Corinthains 1:1: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes. Notice here how Paul introduces himself and Sosthenes: Paul is an apostle and Sosthenes is “our brother.” But how did Paul become an apostle—a sent one—of Christ? He was called. Over these first 9 verses of chapter 1 we’re going to look at today, we will see this word several times. Remember when we went through Genesis and I mentioned that when we read Bible stories there are several ground rules we must keep in mind lest we come up with some silly notions about the story? Rules like there is only 1 correct meaning—the one the writer intended? Or who is the hero of every story? God! Well, let me give you another helpful hint when it comes to understanding holy Scripture: look for repeated words and phrases in the passage. We all know this but it bears repeating: when God says something once, it is important. When he says something more than once, it is really important. And when we see the word “called” 5 times in 9 verses, that gives us a clue as to what God through Paul was driving at here. So, what does “call” mean? Simply it means to invite or to summon. And in this case, “summon” is more appropriate. Because who are sinful, puny human beings dealing with here? God almighty! The ultimate person in the universe. One dictionary entry puts it this way: Divine calling involves God calling individuals and groups of people to be faithful to him or to serve him in various ways. In vv.1-9, let me point out where God has called, or summoned, people to himself. The first place is in v.2 and is actually found in the word “church”. The Greek word is ekklesia, and it literally means “called out ones.” In other words, those who are in the Church of Jesus Christ are called out. Summoned away from the world and its ways to become the people of Jesus Christ. We, the called have entered into a whole new world—a new way of life. We have become citizens of God’s kingdom. As Jesus conversed with his Father the night before he died for our sins, he said that we are in the world but not of it. We who have responded to God’s summons have now become members of the church of Jesus Christ. But how is it that anybody would or could answer God’s gracious and merciful summons? Simply and profoundly, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Romans 3 that if left to our own ways, we would never come to Christ, for none seeks for God. We would be effectively deaf, dumb and blind to his ways. But the Lord Jesus told us that he would send the Holy Spirit and in John 16:8-11 he tells us of the Spirit’s ministry: And when he, as in the Holy Spirit, comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Every one of us in the Church of Jesus Christ have responded to the Holy Spirit’s convicting call. So, what does that make us? The called! In short, we are called out from the world and into the church, the ekklesia of Christ. The 3rd place where “called” is mentioned is found in v.2 as well: God has called—or labeled us saints. In a world that is triggered and caught up in microagressions, God gives his people this precious name! We will come back to this word, “saints” a little later. The 4th place “called” is used is also found in v.2: do you think God through Paul is emphasizing something here in this verse? We are called saints, but now, watch this--together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. What is Paul saying here? When a sinner responds to the Holy Spirit’s call, that person becomes the called. And now, the one who is called, calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when one calls upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, this person is a worshiper of the one true God. Great truth! However, in our day, I must make something clear. The only worshipers of the one true God have only one avenue by which they come: they, themselves, deliberately call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many in our day who say, for example, that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Since God through Paul tells us who the true worshipers are, let’s put this statement to the test. A Muslim does not call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe him to be a prophet and nothing more. Second, Jesus’ own words contradict the statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Let’s turn to John 5:22–23. We need to see these words with our own eyes. What I’m trying to show you is not the stance of an overzealous pastor who wants to keep the undesirables out of the church. No, everything hinges on the words John himself heard Jesus say in these verses: “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” What is going on here? In speaking for the Father, the only true God, Jesus says that all must give him the same honor, the same reverence, the same respect, the same worship, as the Father. To make it clear, Jesus said, any person who does not give him the same reverence, respect, and worship he or she claims to give the Father, is not offering worship to the only true God. Either we worship Jesus AND the Father or we do not worship God. Now, you tell me, which statement is correct? That Christians and Muslims worship the same God, or Jesus, who says that all must give him the same worship as God the Father? The bottom line here is simple. Jesus is exclusive. He said in John 14:6 that no one comes to the Father, the only true God, except by him. The fifth place “call” or “summon” is found is v.9. Here, Paul gives praise to God, who alone is faithful, and now tells called out, worshipers of God, not only are they called out of the world, they are also called into the fellowship of God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, in a nutshell, we see an amazing thing God has done for sinful humanity. The Holy Spirit is not a respecter of persons. He continues to call, to summon all sinners to God. And God places all who respond into the church of Jesus Christ, calling them out of the world and into the fellowship of the Son of God. But as amazing as that is, this is something we all understand. Let me use something we are all familiar with: marriage. The day the beautiful bride and the dressed-to-the-nines groom say yes to one another, a transformation takes place. They have been called out of the “eligible” pool of 7 billion people and at the same time, called into an exclusive, lifelong relationship. And now as husband and wife, they have certain privileges and responsibilities that are not true with any other relationship. They have been summoned, as it were, to maintain the covenant that they have voluntarily entered into. Hence, the term wedding vows. The same with God and humanity. God will never force anyone to respond to his call. But when a person does, everything changes. And a lifelong fellowship with Christ begins. In vv. 4-9, let me point out some of the amazing things that being in the fellowship with Christ consist of. We will revisit these things many times as we go through Paul’s first letter in his Corinthian Correspondence. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 1:4–9: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” First, Paul reminds them of the grace God gives every member of Christ’s fellowship—the unmerited favor he gives every person who has responded to his gracious summons. By the way, how often do God’s people go around with their heads hung low, saying, “I’m not good enough for God?” Has that happened to you, lately? Let me encourage you. Let’s begin to say, “I’m not good enough for God,” and thank him! Why? Because that is what grace is all about! Grace means unmerited favor. The spiritual fact of life is that we don’t deserve God’s favor—regardless of how good we think we are doing. It is a gift. Thank him for the grace God gives his people who have responded to his call, his summons. Besides the amazing grace of God found in Christ alone, what else does fellowship with Christ look like? Let’s read vv.5-7: “That in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Short and sweet, here is what Paul says to the Corinthians. The fact that you responded to the summons, God did a work in your lives. He backed up the truck so to speak and he loaded the called out ones in Corinth with spiritual gifts—expressions of supernatural things to prove that God is among them. Paul will spend a lot of time going through those gifts later on. But for now, it is enough to know that fellowship with Christ will show itself in the expressions of supernatural things. And for us, what are the greatest expressions of the supernatural? The things we talk about all the time: love and unity. What causes us to show love and unity here? Because we are good people? No. Because we are supposed to? No. Because we have responded to God’s summons, out of the world and into fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ? Yes! Any other motive will not do. Funny thing about spiritual gifts. God has so arranged that they cannot be used by one’s self. Really, they cannot even be used on non-Christians. What are they for? To build up the church! They must be used among the people of God. And we will get more into that later. So far we see as part of being called into the fellowship of Christ, that God gives his people his grace. And spiritual expressions—gifts—that demonstrate God’s presence among them. Paul lists yet a 3rd component of what fellowship with the Son of God looks like, and it has to do with the day of judgment. Let’s read v.8: “God will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In a word: perseverance in this life as followers of Jesus and guiltless when they stand before him on that day. What a sigh of relief for the called out Corinthians! Remember what kind of cultural soil they came from? Evil. Immorality. Idolatry. Violence. Every expression of wickedness was present in that city. And later on Paul will address some of these very things. And I need to say here something that may be or may not be obvious. When Paul wrote this, he did not assume every last person who attended the house churches in Corinth were called. Unless he was all knowing, there was no way Paul knew the heart of every person who attended the Corinthian church. There were some that Paul actually addressed as unrighteous. Evil. But our failure to fully take this into account is a reason for some false teaching today. I will give the name of just one false teaching right here and then will address it in later weeks. It is called the teaching of the so-called carnal Christian. There is no such thing. But I’ll let that go for now because I want to briefly give you one more repeated word that Paul uses in addressing the called out brothers and sisters in Christ, worshipers of the one true God. And that word is holy. This word is mentioned twice in the first part of v.2: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” Paul uses what appears to be 2 different words, but in the original language they are basically the same. The first word is sanctified. And it literally means they have become and remain holy. The second word is saints, or holy people. Now, to be holy does not mean sinless perfection. Again, God saves his people by his grace, not by their sinless perfection, as if that could be achieved. What “holy” means is that God has made every person who has responded to his call, to his summons, to be his own special people. Paul is saying here that God owns his people, as he would say later on, that God bought them with the blood of his son, Jesus. The Corinthians were no longer free to do whatever pleased them. They were God’s special people, dedicated to God’s purposes. One writer puts it this way: “Sanctification or holiness comes from belonging to God or being in Christ Jesus, who has become our sanctification” as Paul will talk about in 1 Corinthians 1:30. The author continues, “This idea of being holy also refers to living a sanctified life, which is God’s will for believers. Throughout the Bible, God’s people are holy by being God’s possession and have a responsibility to live in a way that reflects this relationship.” In this verse, v.2, Paul reminds the Corinthians something they apparently forgot—God set them apart for his own special relationship, use and purposes. So, for all the problems the Corinthian church had, Paul called them holy. He set them apart as his own special people. He had not disowned them. But do you see what is happening here? How did Paul see the Corinthian Christians? They were changed people. They responded to God’s summons. They went from living in rebellion against God to being in God’s kingdom, worshipers of the one true God through their relationship with Jesus Christ. They were set apart as God’s people and were to live out the special purposes God had for them to accomplish. I think of what Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” So, what do we make of this? With a broken heart, full of zeal, Paul addressed the church in Corinth. He will rebuke them sharply. He will be snarky with them at times. But everything he will address will be out of love for them and strong encouragement for them to love the Lord who saved those who responded to his salvation summons. And the word for both the Corinthians and for us is the word, remember. Remember who you are. Who were the Corinthians? Who are you? Who am I? Who God says we are! God called us out of the world and into the fellowship of Christ to live a new life, as his people. Bought with blood of Jesus. We are not free to do as we please but to live out God’s purposes because of our relationship with him. One of the crises we have as a culture is that we don’t know who we are. Let me give us just one example of the many we could choose from. Culture tells us we are who we say we are. If you believe you are a different sex, then you are. But who are we? Naturally, we are rebellious sinners in the hands of a God who is angry with the wicked every day. But just as important, he set his sights on sinners to redeem them, because of his everlasting love for all of us. He sends out his call and summons us to repent and believe the gospel of Christ. And all who have responded have been changed. We are now the called, set apart in a special relationship with the lover of our souls. And we now become the worshipers of the only true and living God, calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lastly, we are called people, not merely a called person. Individualism has no place in the body of Christ. The core of the problems in the Corinthian church was disunity among its members. As we close this message today, I want to ask the same question I asked of us last week: how are you and I contributing to the unity of Grace United? If you are not contributing, why not? If you have responded to God’s gracious summons, you are part of God’s people. God has given you his grace, spiritual gifts and a sure knowledge that you will be guiltless when you stand before him on that day. So, my brothers and sisters, believe what God says about you. Remember who you are. God’s people who are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ in Mechanicsville, Virginia.