1 Cor No.1 Commendation and correction

1 Corinthians and chapter 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be holy, 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 the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank God for you, because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

For in him you have been enriched in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge, because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift, as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, 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 Kephas. Still another, I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.

Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not remember if I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Thanks be to God for that reading from his holy word. You might care to have your Bibles open at the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Let me set you a puzzle.

If you were to put together a city treasurer, two out-of-work rabbis, quite a large number of refugees, some one-time homosexuals and male prostitutes, quite a lot of ordinary folk, what would you finish up with? Well, rather an assorted collection of human beings. But the accurate answer would be the congregation of the Christian church at Corinth. Let's imagine that this particular group of believers found themselves in a city of half a million.

The city, like Southampton, is by the docks. Therefore, the navy and many merchant shipmen would often come into it. There's a gigantic bazaar because it's the center of commerce.

There are nightclubs. There is a red light area. And the most shocking thing in the whole city is to be found on top of a hill some 1,900 feet behind that particular place.

For there, there is the headquarters of all that's permissive, all that's pornographic. For in the name of religion, hundreds of men in particular, though not exclusively, will climb to the top of that hill and they will engage in what we today would call, at least some of us would call, unlawful and promiscuous conduct. Now, if you were to take that rather assorted collection of people that I referred to a few moments ago and put them in the environment I've just described, you would have the back cloth, the tapestry, so to speak, over against which the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church at Corinth.

Because as I already identified for you, that group of people who I described, they were Christians and they lived in this Greek city of Corinth. And it was the most difficult circumstance in which to try to live for Jesus Christ. You have problems today as a Christian.

You talk about the pressures of the 20th century and, well, I would admit, be the first to admit that there are such. But I wonder if any of us had the same amount of difficulty as did these Corinthian Christians. Now, the Apostle Paul, very wonderful man that he was, recognized a particular affection for these Christians who lived at Corinth.

If you know much about the life of Paul, you will recall that for some three long years he actually stayed in this city. And you don't sojourn, you don't have such a length of stay in a place like Corinth without forming some very, very deep relationships. The Apostle Paul, when he got to Ephesus and other places in the ancient world, a long way away from Corinth, he would still remember those men and women that he led to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He expected that they'd have difficulties, he expected that they'd have problems, and he was dead right. But he never gave them up. He never disassociated himself from them.

And even when their problems were to do with sexual perversion, he was honest enough to write to them frankly and sincerely, and put them right where they were going wrong, and write to them in an understanding fashion. When women people had problems, for example, going down to the local Sainsbury's, the equivalent of one of our big stores today, he appreciated that they had difficulty about buying the Sunday joint, because, you see, it was a practice in Corinth for all meat, first of all, to be offered to idols. And there were some within the church who said, you couldn't eat such meat as that because it was polluted, it was offered to idols.

And there are others who were saying, well, idols are no gods, they don't exist, so why get so worried about it? Let's eat in any case. And so you've got a right old row brewing at Corinth over the Sunday joint. Can you imagine the apostle Paul as he hears of these problems? And instead of going hairless, instead of being very angry and frustrated at what might seem to us to be childish things, he gets out his pen, and he writes to the people, and he gives them wisdom that comes from God, for Paul is inspired in his writing.

I don't suppose many of you pray about going to your hairdresser, but in those days there was a great problem as to how women in particular were to wear their hair, short or long or in between. If Christians were freed from any cultural superstitious bondage, did it really matter how they had their hair done? These were great problems for the Corinthians when long hair suggested one walk of life, and short hair suggested another walk of life if you were a woman. So they tell Paul, and Paul will even talk about how to wear your hair when he writes back to the Corinthians.

These people were somewhat emotionally inclined. They were of a passionate nature, a demonstrative type of person, and there were certain aspects of Christian experience which to them were very, very interesting indeed. And now and again they got things a little out of perspective.

Paul gets to hear of this, and so he writes back and gives them instructions, helpful comments as to how to order their church worship so that things are done decently and in order. And so we could go on, but I've said enough I hope to whet your appetite as we spend some weeks now looking through this fascinating practical letter, the first letter, probably of several, though we only have two in the New Testament, that Paul wrote to his beloved friends in this town of Corinth. Corinth was the New Testament equivalent to Sodom and Gomorrah, and to live there as a Christian was a great challenge indeed.

However, enough by way of introduction. Let me suggest to you that when you get to the second verse of the first chapter and you come across that little phrase, In Christ Jesus, it can become a sort of lever by which you can examine the teaching of the first 17 verses. I want to apply this lever, if you like, to the first three verses.

Then I want to apply it from verse 4 right down to verse 12. And then thirdly, I want to apply it from the 13th verse to the 17th verse. In Christ, at Corinth, that's the first thing I want to direct your attention to, because this is embraced in the first three verses.

Then, in Christ, I'm commended, because that's what you discover from the fourth verse right down to the ninth verse. And then, in Christ, I'm criticized, for that's what you find from the tenth verse to the last, the 17th, that we're looking at. So, let's come to these verses, and quite quickly, let's try to evaluate and apply some of their teaching.

So I take the lever to the first three. In Christ. Ah yes, these people are in Christ Jesus and they live in Corinth.

But let me start for a moment, because it could well be the case that there are people here this morning at the tabernacle and you don't know what it is to be in Christ Jesus. Well, when Paul writes that sort of phrase, he is really describing all those who are followers of the Lord. You see, if you're in Christ, you're in his fellowship, you're in his body.

It's a quote, a phrase which is often used in these days, you're born again, you're a twice-born person, born naturally and born spiritually. Now there was at Corinth a group of people who were in Christ. That was their calling.

So Paul writes, sending his greetings and the greetings of the ex-Jewish rabbi Sosthenes, and he pens his greeting to those who belong to the church at Corinth. That very word church means called out. It's the Greek word ekklesia.

If you go to church, if you belong to a church, then you are one of the called out people of God. So when Paul writes to citizens of Corinth, he doesn't write to the total half-million community, he writes to those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, in Christ, at Corinth. And he writes with a specific challenge.

Keep with the second verse. To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be holy. Called to be holy in Corinth.

How difficult. When adultery and fornication and every perversion is an accepted way of life. If any group of Christian were unfortunate as to where their lot was cast, regarding the city in which they were brought up, surely it was the Corinthians.

But they were called to belong to Jesus at Corinth. You know well enough, that Christian people, when they're born again, are not absolutely, practically holy at that moment. It is true, as the second verse indicates, that the Christian is sanctified in Christ Jesus.

The moment I confess Jesus as my Lord, then his blood cleanses me of all my sins. But I haven't become 100% perfect. I wish I had.

I wish I could tell you that that was the case. But I'd never get away with it, because my wife's in the congregation, and she could tell you the other side. We are called to be holy.

Forgiven of one's sins, but challenged with living a life that glorifies Jesus in Corinth. And my dear friend, I break off and say this. This letter is personal to you and to me.

It applies to us here on the south coast. Let's take our lever and let's apply this particular phrase. We are in Christ, in worthy.

Called to live lives that glorify Jesus. But let me use the lever again. Because as Paul passes on his love, his greetings, his grace and peace that he wishes on these people in the third verse, he also goes on and he commends these people who are in Christ.

Verses 4 to 10. Or verses 4 to 9. In Christ and commended. Look at the fourth verse.

I always thank God for you. Do you think that Paul had a bit of tongue in cheek when he wrote that particular verse? Thank God for the Corinthians. I mean, these were the most difficult people.

They created a lot of problems for the apostle. But yes, he thanks God for them, even though they're at Corinth and they've got a lot of difficulties. Because he remembers when he first went to Corinth, and when he was about to leave quite early, God said to him, Stay around, Paul.

I've got many people in this city. And for three years Paul labored to bring to God those for whom Jesus had died. And they were a very precious group of people for Paul.

He'd given 36 months of his life. And by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, he'd seen many come to confess that Jesus was the Savior. And despite all the problems that followed, he still thanks God for them.

He thanks God for three things. In verse 4, for the grace of God which has been poured out upon them. In verse 7, for the gifts which God the Holy Spirit has granted to them.

And in verses 8 and 9, for the guarantees that one day these people will be presented faultless before the Lord God. So here we are, Paul writing to the Corinthians. These people are in Christ at Corinth.

They're in Christ and they're commended. Why are you thanking God for them, Paul? I'm thanking God, says Paul, because something of God's grace has been released in their lives and he's changed them in degree. Do you remember the words of John Newton, the old slave trader and drunkard who had a remarkable conversion to Jesus Christ and became a very prominent preacher in London? And Newton was always concerned because he was never as sanctified as he thought he ought to be.

And he wrote on one occasion, I'm not what I should be. I'm not what I ought to be. I'm not what I will be.

But thank God I'm not what I was. And Paul knew that of the Corinthians. They had a long way to go on the highway of sanctification and holiness.

But thank God they were not what they were. And he tells us from the 9th verse onwards of the 6th chapter just what sort of people his congregation used to be before they confessed Christ. So he praises God for his grace.

And what's more? He thanks God for the gifts that the Corinthian Christians have. Look at the 7th verse. Therefore you do not like any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

Now immediately some will think that these refer of necessity to the 9 gifts of the Spirit to which he will make mention later on. And obviously there is direct reference to this. But not only to these 9 gifts of the Spirit to the 21 gifts of the Spirit which are listed throughout the Holy Scripture.

Or if you follow the reasoning of my good brother John Stott. The hundreds of gifts of the Spirit. Because when a person becomes a Christian immediately they are given a gift.

Salvation is the charisma, the gift of God. And so Paul thanks God for these Corinthians and he commends them because they have received the grace of God and in some measure remarkable in certain cases they've known the gifts of the Spirit in their personalities and in their worship in church services. But what's more? He thanks God for their guarantee.

He will keep you strong, verse 8. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know you've got to be a man full of faith to believe that the Corinthians all of them are really saved and that they are eternally secure. But Paul believes this.

Why? Not because of the effectiveness of his preaching but rather because they've committed themselves to God. God whom he tells us in the 9th verse who is a faithful God. And this faithful God through the instrumentality of Jesus who died for the Corinthians will one day ensure when Jesus Christ returns that the Corinthians will be presented faultless before His great throne.

So have you got the points? Here is Paul writing to saints those who are in Christ in Corinth. Those who are in Christ and need to be commended. But thirdly from the 10th verse and down to the 17th he writes to those who are in Christ and they need to be corrected.

They need to be corrected. Verses 10 to 12 rehearses a particular picture which is rather unpleasant that describes the fellowship if that's the right word in this Corinthian church. And verses 13 to 17 that reviews the whole situation analyzes where these Christians went wrong.

First of all then as Paul corrects these believers let's have a look as he rehearses their particular problem. From the 10th verse You see they were not united. That was the problem with this particular church.

Not with that church but with churches throughout the Roman Empire. With churches down the centuries. With churches in the 20th century.

I am perhaps amongst some of us here and not united. Paul says that he doesn't want there to be divisions among them. Verse 10 And that word divisions is a very interesting one.

In the original it means tears. The tearing of clothing. The tearing of tapestry.

Here is the picture of the church as a whole. A tapestry embroidered with a beautiful design but it's been torn into several pieces. Answers the apostle that's a terrible thing.

I see you Christians at Corinth and I don't see you united. I see you split. And that hurts me.

Says the apostle continuing in the 10th verse What I ask in the name of Jesus is this that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. Do you know that expression perfectly united what it really means? Well it's the same verb as is used in Matthew's gospel in the fourth chapter where you find James and John mending their nets. These fishermen they've gone out and they've caught fish and their nets were in a state of disrepair and so they came before they went on the next fishing experience and they mended their nets.

Now says the apostle this is what I want at Corinth you people who are not really united don't tear yourselves apart. Mend your fellowship so that there's unity. What was the particular problem about that had caused these Christians at Corinth to be so disunited split into several different factors.

Well there was a personality cult. You see when Paul left Corinth there was a man by the name of Apollos and he was an eloquent man. You read of him in the 18th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and he had great skill in the scriptures in the Old Testament and for a long time he ministered God's word at Corinth and there were certain people and you get the same attitude today and they thought Apollos he's a much better preacher than Paul he's a man of eloquence whereas Paul by his own confession sometimes finds words difficult to come by.

He talks about the foolishness of words later on in this chapter and in the 10th chapter of the next epistle he will speak about his own problems in speech. So you've got some who slide alongside Apollos and they say you're our man and then there are others and they say no the apostle Paul is our man and there are others and they say no Peter is our man and then you've got these really super spiritual people and they try to shoot all the others down and say our man's Christ we're far far more sanctified than you are but Paul when he analyzes it he sees that it's just a break in the fellowship and he's so concerned so he rehearses the picture in front of them as he corrects these people who nonetheless though arguing amongst themselves are still in Christ and from the 13th verse and onwards he reviews he analyzes he diagnoses the problem he says can Christ really be divided? Could you take the body of Christ and split it into various sections? You say why does he speak like that? Well you see another way of describing those people who are Christians is not just to say that they're in Christ but to say that they are part of the body of Christ on earth the mystical body to which I believe Andrew made reference in his opening prayer Christ is the head in heaven we are Christ's body because we belong to him can you imagine what would happen if I went this afternoon down to Worthing Hospital and they took away my arm from my shoulder and my head from my body and my legs from my trunk can you imagine the grotesque sight that would face you this evening as you came into the gospel service a dismembered preacher it would be absurd the whole notion is ridiculous but you see this is what these people were doing to the body of Christ this little group we're of Paul this little group we're of Cephas this little group we're of Jesus and Paul says no Christ can't be divided and he goes on to emphasize the fact that even in this whole business of baptism that no one has got to start boasting that Paul actually did their baptism over against Apollos or some other minor official in the church says the apostle Paul it doesn't really matter who did the baptizing indeed he says when I reflect upon it I didn't baptize many of you and I'm grateful for that because Christ preached me to deal with priorities Christ called me to deal with issues which are absolutely vital to the faith the proclamation of the gospel so in effect what corrective does Paul bring to this church which is separated into many little divisions in Corinth he appeals for them to get their priorities in order they're not to split amongst womenfolk who go down to the local Sainsbury's and buy meat cook it and their husbands eat it and those who refuse to participate in such a meal and therefore break fellowship and here I'm not joking even though my example may be semi-humorous it comes directly from the scripture those who are pushing certain aspects of doctrine over against another says the apostle Paul if you haven't got the prior doctrine right if you're not concerned above every other thing to preach Christ and Him crucified then you're defective so when Paul writes his letter to the Corinthians he writes to those who are in Christ at Corinth and gives them a challenge to live in a holy fashion he writes to those who are in Christ and can be commended because of the grace of God and the gifts of God and the guarantees of God which they experience but he writes to those who are in Christ and need to be corrected let me conclude it wasn't surprising that there were difficulties at Corinth it's not surprising that there are difficulties in the evangelical world in the 20th century I told you what sort of environment these people came from the dregs of society they were numbered amongst that congregation it became a veritable cave of a dolom you remember that cave where David had all the vagabonds from Palestine coming to him and saying we want to be part of your army Jesus came to forgive sinners and to call them to himself and wherever you have sinners who are not completely sanctified as none of us is in this congregation there are bound to be problems but there's something else the apostle Paul teaches us we're never to despair we are always to look for what is commendable in our brother or in a particular church grouping with which we ourselves are not involved how wonderful it would be if some of us broken into little slots within the evangelical segments of the church could appreciate that what others within the evangelical camp are saying may have a certain degree of truth in it and even if we can't go along with it at least they're in Christ and that should bless our hearts and cause us to be very enthusiastic and loving towards them the next thing that Paul teaches us here is the priority of preaching Christ crucified above everything else the thing that disturbs me most when I come back from third world countries to the south coast of England is that I have to spend so many hours dealing with folks who are troubled about secondary areas of the gospel people who would break fellowship here, there and everywhere else not recognizing the priority of preaching Christ takes precedence over everything else had two letters from church secretaries this week six thousand miles away, they're two churches and both of them have the same difficulty how do we call pastors to our church when there are so many problems and factions within evangelicalism today how do we suit the requirements of relatively large congregations tremendous problems that we face in these days but here I give you some help from the apostle Paul it's not surprising there's disagreement we're never to despair of any Christian community including folks within our own and we are never, never, never to align yourself to align ourselves with a clique within a church fellowship I tell you, it does me no honor if there are folks who do not come to the tabernacle if I am not the preacher it does me no honor at all we come to the tabernacle to worship almighty God and whoever expounds these scriptures his identity is utterly irrelevant unimportant we do not identify ourselves with one man we do not identify ourselves with one faction whether we be from the so-called charismatic community or non-charismatic community or some of us who've got legs in both areas of the communities it's enough to belong to Jesus Christ and to recognize that my strict Baptist brother belongs to the Lord as much as the brother who goes to the Dales Convention and even if their worship patterns are dissimilar one day I shall share heaven with them and I refuse to be aligned to any faction that's critical and divisive within the body of Christ for we are called primarily to the proclamation of the gospel this is the first corrective that Paul applies to the Corinthians and you see how relative and relevant it is for us here as well in the tabernacle Father for the sweet privilege of being in Christ we thank you praise you for the calling we recognize something of the challenge help us to live faithfully for you here so that we can be in Christ and commended because of the grace of God and the gifts of God and the guarantees of God in our hearts help us also to be of such a humble disposition that we can be in Christ and corrected put right in areas where sometimes we're cryptic and cynical and showing less of agape love than our Savior did help us Father to rise to the challenge of this glorious epistle for Jesus' sake Amen