The Good Life
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1 Corinthians is a fascinating book of the bible.
And we’re going to spend a large chunk of this coming year going through it.
It covers all sorts of themes - most of which are introduced by Paul as he begins his letter here.
It’s worth us spending a few minutes setting the scene of this book,
so we know what to do with it as we work our way through.
Many of the apostle Paul’s letters are fairly staright forward gospel and theological presentation.
Think of Galatians, Romans, even Ephesians.
It makes them fairly straight forward to apply to ourselevs,
becasue Paul is mainly wanting to ensure sound doctrine in those churchs
- and as such they are going to be applicable to all churches at all times.
He then addresses specific contextual issues in those letters more briefly.
1 Corinthians is more the other way around.
It’s almost entirely contextual.
In other words, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth to address specific situations and issues going on there.
1 Cor is actually 1 of probably 5 other letters (including 2 Corinthians), 3 of which we don’t have anymore
These letters went back and forth between Paul and the church,
so you’ll notice Paul will write thing like 7v1
The New International Version Chapter 7
Now for the matters you wrote about:
All that said
Much of the specific teaching Paul gives will be very useful and interesting to us,
Corinth was a new city - wealth had grown quickly but also then caused grave poverty,
Wisdom and retoric and power were the ways to progress and be impressive.
And sexual immorality and false gods were rife.
Paul spent 18months in Corinth as we discover in Acts 18, so he knows what it’s like.
This letter then is a treasure chest of applied theology - something that will help us know what to do in life - at work, in relationships, in church, in families, in the community, how we behave sexually.
It will also address lawsuits, and what happens to our bodies after death.
but perhaps even more helpful
will be to see how Paul applies the gospel
- the Good News of Jesus - to everyday life situations.
He’s going to set the scene in next weeks passage for the rest of the application he gives in the book by arguing that
‘Christ Crucified is all the wisdom we need in this life to succeed.
It’s foolishness to the world he says.
It’s unimpressive to the powerful.
But to the believer - it is everything.
Jesus is Everything - Jesus must come first.
Paul will demonstrate a framework that will help us behave in a godly way - trusting in the wisdom and knowledge of Christ Crucified
- so that even when the answer to our lifes problems isn’t obvious from the bible - we will know a way forward - and not doubt our saviour.
How does the gospel help us live and understand nearly 2 years of Covid,
What do are we to think about the Taliban in Afganistan,
What about Social Media,
Gender.
how do we apply our gospel to our cultural, our worldly issues.
IN our very confused world and society - this is a book for our time.
It is
‘Christ Crucified Applied to real life’
‘Christ Crucified Applied to real life’
And the simplest summary of what that looks like - and our series title,
and a phrase we can remember in every aspect of life,
is
Jesus FIRST
So Let’s get into our passage today.
And after 6 weeks with children at home, and 18months of lockdowns, this is an encouragement we need:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
Paul the apostle is our author.
He, as most of you will know, was a militant opressor of Christianity
- having Christains stoned and put to death - until - he met the risen Lord Jesus in person.
He was converted and instructed by Jesus to serve him as a preacher of the good news of salvation through Jesus alone.
Sosthenes was likely the chap who, in Acts 18 was the Corinthian synagog leader - he it seems left Corinth after receiving a beating by the crowds -
presumably for not stopping Pauls preaching about Jesus -
,Sosthenese it seems was presumably converted and then became a co-worker of Paul on his journey to Ephesus -
which is where he is writing this letter from.
There’s our authors introduced - let’s get into some encouraging theology:
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:
Here is a glorious statement about the church - as true for the Corinth church as it is for every church ever since.
1 - Sanctified In Christ
1 - Sanctified In Christ
We are sanctified - made holy ‘in Christ’ - and having been made holy we are called to be holy.
In other words - as most of us know -but perhaps in the pressures of life we forget -
As believers in the crucified Jesus
- our sin and rebelion against God has been counted or atoned for by Jesus so that we might be free.
We’re Sanctified, we’re holy, apart for God In Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t ‘help us’ become sanctified in this salvation sense - ‘we are’ holy becasue we are ‘In Christ’.
God does not look upon us and think - well {name} is a work in progress,
He looks at {name} and sees him/her as perfect becasue he/she is ‘in Christ’.
He looks at {name} and sees the perfect love of Jesus towards the Father God.
That’s our position before God. And it’s one of untold privilege and joy!
We are sanctified in Christ.
elsewhere the bible describes it as being ‘hidden with Christ’
Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
OUr sinful humanity is dead - and hidden away in Christ so that God cannot see us as we are - for we have been made perfect, holy, sanctified in Christ!
It’s the greatest privilege and joy available to us.
And yet
It’s a position easily forgotten or doubted!
Why, becasue it’s not yet always our practice.
We are both fully sanctified In Christ - and also ‘called to be’ his holy people.
That now and not yet sense of our expericene of being God’s children.
Our Position is one of holiness (in Christ before God),
but our practice is a work in progress.
It’s why Paul starts here -
he wants the Corinthians (and all the other believers around the world)
to know the reassurance of God’s grace and love to us In Christ - to know our Position,.
So we keep that perspective when he spends the rest of the letter telling them/us how their practice is missing the mark and needs to change!
So Grace Church if we have given your life to Jesus - know that we are sanctified In Christ!
We are God’s precious children - forgiven and loved unconditionally and eternally hidden with Christ Jesus.
And if you don’t yet believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins - the invite is there!
Accept that underserved position of holiness, of sanctification - for your practice cannot earn it.
It’s a free gift.
Jesus has paid our price
And what a gift it is.
Now,
our practice may often fall short of our position,
but it does not mean we do not benefit from our position in our practice.
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.
2 - Enriched in Every Way
2 - Enriched in Every Way
Christians live a life that has been ‘enriched in every way’!
What a statement - again, one you may be often tempted to doubt!
For the Corinthians the cultural difference between the non-believer and the believer would have been very stark.
They were saved out of a dark culture - practicing prostitution, incest and drunkenss.
They worshipped false Gods and self-serving philosophies.
It would have been more comparable to noticing the difference in someone today who was saved by Jesus having been in a street gang, or an extremist Muslim to Christianity.
Their life would be changed beyond recognition.
But even for us, in a country based traditionally on Christian principles.
That change we have undergone at our conversion is significant.
(or perhaps for those who have always grown up believing in Jesus as our only salvation) - we have been spared from a life that is very different.
A life that is enriched in every way - If only we recognise it rightly.
We may not have been involved in visible or horrific sin -but our priorities have changed beyond recognition!
Pauls point is that the Corinthians have been changed and their lives enriched in every-way,
becasue now they always seek to put ‘Jesus first’.
Their change in priorities -our change in priorities is huge - even if our lifestyle doesn’t change so significantly.
Paul explains this as being seen through ‘speech and all knowledge’ in v5.
It becomes clearer later in the letter that he is talking in terms of their confession and proclamation about Jesus,
and their knowledge in terms of understanding and believing and sharing in the truth about Jesus.
So, for example,
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
OUr life is enriched now becasue we proclaim Christ - We know him and speak of him
- and we have access to the full knowledge of God as revealed in his word!
In that light - our priorities and perspectives radically change.
IN other words - don’t be disheartened holy people in Christ when you get sick,
or loose your job, or have to isolate for yet another 10 days,
or your marriage is hard.
They are all worldly ways to measure your life!
If that is what life is about, then be miserable - as sadly most of Britain is,
for they are measuring life by their own ability to improve things,
and sadly the answer is not inside ourselves!
We are the problem!
And trying to fix it with false gods or phylosophies,
self help schemes,
or mindfulness, will not fix the problem.
Measure your life says Paul,
And this is why Christians are enriched in everyway,
by what you proclaim, know, teach and share of Jesus!
You are forgiven, a child of God, holy in Christ,
full of joy and hope whatever our circumstances!
Our circumstances may not look much different from the surrounding world,
but our perspective, our speech and knowledge has been radically transformed!
We no longer live for ourselves, or by worldly dead-end wisdom
(of which we’ll talk about more next week)
but by the life enriching, future guaranteeing grace and peace of the Lord Jesus.
Everything has changed - everything about your life has been enriched
- for you speak of Jesus, and you have all knowledge of Jesus!
You are a new person.
enriched in everyway
We no longer work for ourselves or our family - we work for Jesus.
We no longer face illness in fear of death, but we face it with Jesus and his eternal life he gives us,
We no longer face relational difficulties where our life is dependant on our spouse - for our life is all about Jesus.
We are enriched in every-way - and this letter will help us explore more of these topics.
And that enriching should be true not just in contrast to the world we no longer belong to,
but also in our church and our faith.
so, v7 - speaking about he problem he’ll address in chapter 14 on spiritual gifts he says
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
You have every gift you need -stop squabbling over who has the best ones and how you use them.
Or speaking into what he’ll deal with in chapter 15, where the Corinthian Christians are fearful about what will happen when they physically die,
He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Stop quarrelling,
stop comparing,
stop striving to save yourselves,
stop panicing,
stop seeking worldy ways,
stop misjuduging what is important about our lives,
You are not less valuable,
or less informed,
or less gifted than other Christians
No says Paul - you, as a church, each have everything already - you are enriched through the gospel of Jesus in every way.
Speak of it and know it!
pause
Finally, The icing on the cake...
3 - God is Faithful
3 - God is Faithful
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
None of this
being sanctified in christ
being enriched in every way
relies on us always getting it right.
We are not sanctified in ourselves. - but in Christ
We are not enriched through our own efforts. - but through Christ
It is God who is faithful! - not us.
This is a message you and I need to remember and our failing world needs to hear!
A world full of mental health challenges,
global pandemics,
gender confusion,
workplaces glorifying pride values and every minority view but silencing the only good news of Jesus,
Science claiming it doesn’t need God,
Scientists playing God,
Doctors ending lives in the womb
Taliban Terrorists taking over whole countries,
Natural disaster devastating cities with hurricanes and floods,
Self care, yoga,, mindless meditation all being the countries favourite religion,
church leaders being disgraced
economies tanking,
holidays cancelled,
oh boy no wonder so many of us struggle...
Don’t forget Says Paul!
You’re ok - not becasue you’re ok - but becasue Jesus is more than ok!
As a Jesus sanctified, life enriched follower of Jesus - None of those things have any power over us.
In Jesus our perspective on life is radically different,
and we’re going to spend the rest of 1 Cor exploring what that looks like.
But for today:
In christ you are holy - and called to pursue it.
You are enriched in every way.
You have everything you need
for
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pray
