A Proper Prospective for the New Year
Notes
Transcript
Handout
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 their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which has been given to you through Jesus Christ.
5 By Him you are enriched in everything, in all speech and in all knowledge,
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift while waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 He will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, and by Him you were called to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
A Blessed Year begins with
Focusing on Christ
Focusing on Christ
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
Summons us
Summons us
All men called by Christ into the ministry should know Christ has called them to be pastors, teachers, missionaries or evangelists.
There should be a conviction of divine vocation.
No man - neither himself nor any other man - puts him into the ministry. God alone chooses and calls you.
Many men have been ordained to the ministry but never were called by God to minister.
Many men also have been called to the ministry by God who have never had human hands laid on them. The man called by God to the ministry will experience the blessing of God in what God has called him to do. When God has called a man, whether there is human ordination or not, there will be blessing. Spurgeon said, "Most ordinations are simply empty hands on empty heads.”
Note that Paul called Sosthenes our brother, which means he was a brother in Christ. Sosthenes was probably one of the men sent by the Corinthian church to deliver their letter to Paul—the letter which asked Paul the questions that he answers here in First Corinthians. It is interesting to note that Sosthenes may also have been the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, the ruler who had taken the lead in having Paul arrested and tried. But note: Sosthenes was himself taken and beaten by the Roman governor because he dared to bother the busy schedule of the courts with such an insignificant matter as preaching (Ac. 18:12–17). If Sosthenes was the same as the ruler of the synagogue, he was at some point converted to Christ.
The point is this: the messenger of God is called by God, but his call does not make him better or superior to other believers. His call and office as a messenger of God is to be acknowledged and respected, but it does not make him a superior person. He is a brother to all other believers.
This is important to understand that Christ Summons Us, but we also need to understand that Christ also
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 their Lord and ours:
Sanctifies Us
Sanctifies Us
Paul said that these carnal Christians at Corinth were sanctified (past tense).
How could this be, seeing the church was so messed up?
He did not say that they are being sanctified (present tense) but they were sanctified.
What does this mean? The word “sanctified” in its basic meaning is “to set apart,” and it was a common expression among all Greeks.
A piece of furniture could be sanctified (set apart) to some use.
A prostitute in the temple of Aphrodite was sanctified (set apart) to her wicked profession.
The Christians took the word “sanctified” and gave it a specific meaning for the church (the called out ones). The Christian use of the word “sanctified” means to set apart for God's use and God’s possession. Christians have been given a new position; they are set apart to God.
Paul could have begun this letter by chewing out these Christians for living on such a low level spiritually. He might have become indignant or lashed out at them, but he did not do that He began by reminding these carnal Corinthian believers about their position in Christ They had been sanctified, set part, by God to be a holy people.
Notice, Christ set them apart in a local church at Corinth.
The local church is a divine institution, established by God. It belongs to God; it is the instrument of God. Men may despise, deride, defame and avoid the local church, but it is God’s primary tool for building the saints and reaching the lost world for Christ. It was God’s church, not Paul’s. We often glibly say, “my church” or “our church” or even worse “Jack Arnold’s church.” This kind of an attitude causes us to become possessive and selfish; causing divisions in the church. Many problems in the local church would be solved if we could really believe in was God's church.
Not only are we sanctified In Christ in the Body of Christ, the Church, but because of that, we are set apart and called to be Holy.
“Called to be saints.” Saints is the word “holy” in this context has both the idea of “set apart to be holy ones” and “being made holy.
God, through a sovereign, efficacious, infallible call, brought these Corinthian Christians to faith in Jesus Christ.
“(God) who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (II Tim. 1:9). At the moment of conversion, they were sanctified positionally or set apart to God for worship, holiness and service. They were saints, holy ones, set apart to God in the same sense that in the Old Testament the temple, the altar, the priests and the prophets were set apart for sacred use. The Christian, therefore, has been Summoned by God to salvation and set apart for sacred purposes. Paul reminded the Corinthians of what they were positionally in Christ -- set apart for sacred purposes.
Sainthood is not something a Christian enters into after death, having lived an exceptionally moral and spiritual life on this earth. Sainthood is a position of being set apart to God as the result of God sovereignly calling us to Himself through the message of salvation in Christ. Therefore, all Christians are saints: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Thomas, Saint Augustine, Saint Calvin, Saint Bob, Saint Sally, and Saint Betty. All Christians have been set apart to God for worship, godly living and service.
The phrase “called to be holy" can also imply "to make holy in one’s experience.” Christians are set apart to God positionally to bear the character of God in their experience. This appears to be a slight slam by Paul at the Corinthians who had lives which were falling very short of their position in Christ. What Paul is implying to these Corinthians is, “Since you are saints, you should live saintly. Holy ones should live holy lives. Set apart ones should live lives of Christlikeness." An understanding of our position in Christ ought to help us live godly lives.
In fact, our position is the basis for holy living. We are to constantly be becoming what we already are in Christ. God called all Christians at salvation to live a holy life and if there is not a commitment to holy living, one should ask whether he or she has really been called by God to salvation. Paul assumed that most of the Corinthians were saved but after four letters and two visits, he challenges some of them to the reality of their salvation.
5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you fail the test” (II Cor. 13:5)?
Together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours. This letter was not just a letter for the Corinthian Christians; it was for all Christians of every age. The Book of First Corinthians is timeless and it is for us today. Paul reminded these Corinthians that they were not an isolated colony of God’s people but a part of the body which owns Christ as its Lord.
Christ not only Summons Us and Sanctifies Us but look at verse 3.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ
Supplies Us
Supplies Us
with God’s grace and peace in their daily lives.
We need God’s grace to deal with the problems in our own lives and in the local church.
We also need God’s peace to rest patiently in Him while we wait for Him to solve the problems in that local church. God’s grace and peace can be experienced now in a Christian’s life as we live a life of faith in the resurrected Christ.
Having reminded them they had been sovereignly called to salvation through Christ and set apart for worship, godliness and service, the Apostle Paul, in the remainder of this introduction, gives a thanksgiving for the depths of spiritual wealth in the church of Corinth.
The name of Jesus Christ is mentioned ten times in the first ten verses. Paul wanted the minds of the Corinthian believers to be immediately focused upon Jesus Christ.
He knew this: the answer to the Corinthian problems did not lay in his ability to discuss and reason, nor in his laying down rules and regulations for them, but in Jesus Christ. Therefore, he immediately discussed some of the furnishings which the believer receives when he accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.
In 1:1-3, Paul dealt their position in Christ. They were saints, holy ones, called by God and set apart for sacred purposes.
In 1:4-9, Paul deals with their possessions in Christ, stressing their spiritual blessings in Christ or what they possess because of their new position in Christ.
Furnishings of Christ
Furnishings of Christ
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
The first 2 furnishings deal with
His Favor
His Favor
Saves Us
Saves Us
Paul thanked God the Corinthian Christians had become recipients of God’s grace. Salvation had made them receivers and possessors of the grace of God. It was God’s grace; the unmerited favor of a sovereign God, that had saved these wicked folks at Corinth.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,
9 not of works, so that no one should boast.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
They had been heathen idol worshipers but now they were born again because of God’s grace and mercy which they in no way deserved. It is the pure grace of God which gives the Christian his position and possessions in Christ.
What are some of these possessions? Because of God’s grace, we Christians are elected, called, redeemed, justified, reconciled, forgiven, recipients of eternal life, adopted into God’s family, seated in the heavenlies and blessed with all spiritual blessing all this and more because we are in Christ.
It appears the Apostle Paul assumed these Corinthian Christians clearly understood the grace of God, but this was also one of their problems. They were not caught up in legalism as were the Galatians, or ritual, as were the Colossians, but in Corinth they had the problem of license.
They accepted the grace of God to such a degree they did not think it made any difference how they behaved. They were libertines, abusing the grace of God and using it as an excuse for immoral living. They reasoned that since they were saved, God would always deal with them in grace, no matter how sinful their lives might be. They wrongly reasoned that grace set them free to sin. They, as many Christians do today, said, “We are so free in Christ, we are free to sin!” How ridiculous to reason like this. They were always free to sin even before they were Christians. What they failed to see was that grace set them free to serve, to worship, to live for Christ!
Not only did His Favor Furnish us with Salvation but His Favor also
5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Sanctions Us
Sanctions Us
God’s grace (Salvation) enriched or made wealthy these Corinthian Christians. The word “enriched” is the Greek word from which we get the word “plutocrat” in the English which means “one who is very wealthy.” These Corinthian Christians were spiritual plutocrats, blessed beyond measure. They were spiritually wealthy in everything but especially in the area of spiritual gifts.
They experienced the favor of God of significance in every area of life and were actually blessed with all the gifts and blessings of God’s Spirit.
They were especially blessed with the gifts of utterance and of knowledge.
⇒ Utterance: all the spiritual gifts involving speech, which would include gifts such as prophecy, teaching, and tongues—all forms of speech needed to praise God and to witness for Christ.
⇒ Knowledge: the spiritual gift of understanding spiritual truth and doctrine, of having unusual insight into the nature of God and His call and mission in the world.
The church and its believers were enabled by God’s grace to know and understand the truth of God’s Word and to speak the truth to a lost and dying world. The Spirit of God had enriched their lives by giving them all the gifts of spiritual knowledge and spiritual speech.
Notice Christ favors us with Salvation, He Sanctions Us to speak the Truth
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
His Faithfulness
His Faithfulness
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Substantiates Us
Substantiates Us
The gifts and grace of God confirmed “the testimony of Christ” in the hearts of the believers. The believers had perfect assurance of their salvation. They knew beyond question that they were saved.
⇒ Jesus Christ had testified (proclaimed) to the truth: He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
⇒ The disciples had testified to Christ: that He was definitely the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
The Corinthian believers had accepted the testimony of Christ. They had been truly saved, and their salvation was confirmed by the gifts and blessings of God’s grace. God had poured His grace and His Spirit out upon the Corinthian church and its believers. The gifts of the Spirit were their confirmation. Their faith in Christ was confirmed by the gifts of God’s glorious grace and His Spirit. There was no question about their salvation. The presence of God’s Spirit and God’s grace bore clear evidence that their salvation and experience with Christ were genuine.
Thought 1. God will confirm the faith of a true believer. He will seal a person’s decision for Christ with the Holy Spirit. God will pour His Spirit and His grace out upon a person who truly trusts His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing God wants above all else is for the believer to be firmly established in the faith of His dear Son.
The Sanction of gifts and Salvation by grace of God brought a full provision to the Corinthian believers (v. 7). They lacked no spiritual gifts whatsoever; in fact, when it came to spiritual gifts, they stood equal with the strongest of churches. They experienced not only the personal gifts such as faith, knowledge, and tongues, but the public gifts such as miracles, healing, and prophecy; and they possessed them in abundance.
Thought 1. The believer is to “covet earnestly the best gifts” and to “desire spiritual gifts” (1 Co. 12:31; 14:1). But the believer must always remember that possessing the gifts of the Spirit does not mean that he is necessarily strong in the Lord. There were no more carnal believers in the early days of the church than the Corinthian believers. They tragically abused their gifts and their abuse and subsequent judgment serves as a strong warning to all.
The gifts and grace of God substantiated their Salvation by stirring a strong longing for the return of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit give us a foretaste of the glories of heaven.
⇒ The gift of prophecy or of preaching proclaims what heaven will be like.
⇒ The gift of ministering demonstrates the loving compassion and care that exists in heaven.
⇒ The gift of healing demonstrates the power and will of God for man to live without corruption and pain.
When the gifts of the Spirit are active among a people, it is only natural that the return of Christ and of heaven is stirred within their hearts; for they are constantly experiencing the presence of the Lord in their midst and receiving a foretaste of heaven.
The more active the gifts of the Spirit are among a people, the more the people long for the Lord’s return. The more a people talk and share about the Lord and minister to each other in the Lord, the more they long for the Lord and to be with Him.
Whatever we sow, we reap. The more we sow conversation about the Lord and the gifts of the Lord, the more we shall long to be reaped by the Lord.
The believer’s earnest longing for the Lord’s return is clearly understood.
Just imagine the glorious expectation he possesses!
Not only does His faithfulness Substantiate Us but His faithfulness also
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Secures Us
Secures Us
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word confirm (bebaiosei) means preserve and establish, make steadfast and firm and secure. Jesus Christ will preserve and secure the believer from falling.
Note the glorious reason: that the believer may be “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The word blameless (anegkletous) means unreprovable, guiltless. It means that no one will be able to accuse or bring any accusation against the believer when he stands before Christ in the day of judgment. The “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” will bring about the judgment seat of Christ, and only those who are preserved by the blood and power of Jesus Christ will be counted blameless (v. 8).
Not only does His faithfulness Substantiate Us and Secure Us but look at verse 9.
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Socializes With Us
Socializes With Us
The believer’s last furnishing is God Himself, His glorious call. God has called believers for one specific purpose: to be in fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The longing of God’s heart is for men to know His Son …
• by becoming personally related to Him through adoption (Ro. 8:15–17; Ga. 4:4–6)
• by fellowshipping with Him day by day, all day long
Note the point: God is not after us to fellowship with His Son only on a temporary basis. When God calls us to fellowship with His Son, He means eternal fellowship. He is adopting us as children so that Jesus Christ will have our fellowship as brothers.
What does God want Christians to learn from this section of scripture?
First, we are secure in Christ. He possesses us and we possess Him.
Second, we have spiritual gifts that God wants us to use and not abuse to get His work done.
Third, fellowship with Jesus Christ and recognition of His Lordship over our lives is the key to keep from becoming a carnal Christian.
Fourth, we need to appreciate the fact that we are rich beyond measure with spiritual blessings in Christ.
Are we aware of our wealth in Christ?
Are you focused on Jesus Christ?
Have you listened to the Summoning from Christ?
Have you accepted you Sanctification for Christ?
Are you using the Supplies of Christ?
Are you experiencing the furnishings of Jesus Christ, His Favor and Faithfulness?