1 Corinthians: God's People Must Be United and Growing in Holiness
To the Church of God in Corinth
1 Corinthians 1:1-9[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, January 8th, 2012
When Paul walked into Corinth in the year 49 AD he would have seen a very cosmopolitan city that was both young and old. It flourished at least 8 centuries before his arrival as a major Greek city, yet had only been rebuilt less than 100 years when he came. At the height of its glory, from 350-250 BC, Corinth was the most prosperous city of ancient Greece. When you combine the bawdy reputation and flowing wealth of a seaport, and the immoral worship of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, you get a general picture of the kind of city it was. However in 146 BC the Corinthians made the mistake of crossing the Romans, who swiftly destroyed the city. Mummius, the Roman Consul, had it burned, the men killed, and the women and children sold into slavery. For 100 years the city sat desolate, until Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth in 44 BC. Much of the worship of Greek idols continued with a bit of a Roman flavor thrown in[2].
When Paul visited he would have met Roman soldiers, Greek philosophers, temple prostitutes, slaves from all over the Mediterranean region, and sailors from the entire known world. He would have encountered Jews, Africans, Europeans, Middle Easterners; craftsmen, merchants, artisans, and politicians. Athletes from these same regions would have been there to compete in the Isthmian Games held every two years. It would have been normal to hear Greek, Aramaic, and Latin spoken, and possibly other languages. Several temples were built to Greek gods and Roman leaders.
The hill called Acrocorinth stood guard behind it, and a wall of six miles protected the remaining districts. There were actually two nearby seaports; one six miles east, and another two miles north of town. Large ships would dock in both ports, and slaves would roll smaller ships across the isthmus on logs, while the sailors hit the taverns and shops. And into this busy, thriving city the Apostle, on his second missionary journey, had brought the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's read about that from Acts 1:1-18.
1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,
3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.
8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,
10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people."
11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,
13 saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law."
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.
15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things."
16 And he drove them from the tribunal.
17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
So Paul saw the Lord work through the gospel to establish a church there. God said, "I have many in this city who are my people." Would you think that from my description of Corinth? Easy to misjudge such things, isn't it! And yet God's will is for His people to bring light to darkness, truth where it is needed.
But when Paul wrote this second letter (there is a lost first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Cor 5:9), this church unfortunately had begun to show their roots. Let me just take you through some of the topics and issues Paul addressed when he wrote this letter…
1) An appeal for unity in Christ, 1:10-4:21
2) Against sexual immorality and complacency in the church, 5:1-13
3) Against lawsuits among brothers in the church, 6:1-20
4) Concerning abstinence and marriage, 7:1-40
5) Concerning food, stumbling blocks, and idolatry, 8:1-10:33 (sub-point, 9:1-27 Paul defends his apostleship)
6) About order and authority, 11:1-16
7) Concerning the Lord's Supper, 11:17-34
8) Concerning Spiritual Gifts, 12:1-14:40
9) Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead, 15:1-58
10) Concerning the Collection for the Saints, 16:1-4
11) Various instructions, closing remarks, 16:5-24
When I read that list out loud, that doesn't even sound like you're talking to Christians! Paul had to address divisions, immorality, lawsuits, marriage issues, idolatry, order in worship, the resurrection, and giving to those in need! Does this sound like a church you would love to visit if you moved to Corinth? I'm gonna say, 'no'. But listen now to the introduction to this letter. Listen for what he calls them, how he describes them, and see if you can discern how he feels about them.
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge--
6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you--
7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless 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.
Note what he calls them:
"The church of God that is in Corinth."
Note how he describes them:
"Those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints… guiltless in the day of… Jesus… called into the fellowship of His Son"
How he feels about them:
"I thank my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you"
What they have received: grace, all speech and all knowledge, all spiritual gifts
So as we open this book and get the setting of this letter and scan the issues Paul addresses in this church, let me ask these questions:
Were they saved? Yes.
Were they fighting nasty, grievous sins? Yes.
Were they loved? By God and by Paul? Yes.
Were they left to their own sinful means and ways? No.
Are you saved? Yes.
Are you fighting nasty, grievous sins? Yes.
Are you loved? By God and your pastors? Yes.
Are you left to your own sinful means and ways? No.
Why not? Because…
God's People Must Be United and Growing in Holiness.
He loves His glory; and He loves His church. Those He has made righteous by faith in Christ must also be unified, and continue growing in holiness by this same faith in Christ.
Are you righteous? If you are born again, saved by grace through faith in Jesus, yes.
Are you holy? Are you holy enough? No! God is still sanctifying those He saves, just as He was still working on this sin-beleaguered bunch of Christians in Corinth!
[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.
[2] Much of this information came from the article, "Corinth", in the Holman Bible Dictionary. General Editor Trent C. Butler, PH.D. Copyright © 1991 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserve.
No comments:
Post a Comment