Read 1 Corinthians 1
And so we
come to Corinth, at least we accompany Paul as he was there in Acts 18. The
Jews rejected him and he went to the Gentiles and started a church before
returning to Asia Minor.
The Jews
took Paul before the secular Greek authority because he was disrupting the Sabbath
services with this Jesus business. Gallio did what Pilate couldn’t manage. He
stuck by his decision not to get sucked into this obviously religious struggle.
The Jews
didn’t get what they wanted from the local authorities, so they beat Sosthenes,
the leader of the Corinth Synagogue. We find the name Sosthenes in Paul’s
salutation and must wonder: Did the leader of the synagogue come to be a
believer, or is this Sosthenes someone we won’t hear of again?
Paul also maintained
a relationship with this church. We know because he addressed specific issues.
This wasn’t just Sophomore Theology conducted by correspondence. This was Paul
in the middle of the congregation’s business. Plenty of theological pointers exist, but this is mission work, not commentary from the
sidelines.
This is how you do church!
Thankfully,
we can just sit back and comment on those knucklehead Corinthians instead of
getting another series of challenges from Tom. Or can we?
We don’t
seem to have any problems with the Lord’s
Supper, but we learned not to take it during a fellowship meal.
We don’t
seem to have a problem coveting Spiritual
Gifts. We seem to comprehend being a member of the body of Christ. Maybe we should read Romans instead. It has plenty of theology that we can apply in this modern century.
That’s one
perspective. Try another. There is who we were before professing Jesus as
Lord and there is who we are now. There is a word for that journey between
these two points: who we were before Christ and who we are now. It's one of
those four-letter words, but you don’t need to cover your children’s ears. The
world is life.
Life
Life
involves struggle and challenge. It sometimes runs us through the
wringer. Life is sometimes just so apparently amazing, yet we struggle to find
the blessing in our situation.
We live and
give thanks for life itself.
We struggle.
Everything seems hard. But we press on.
We hurt to
our souls, and sometimes it just hurts right here, but it has your full
attention. We know pain.
And we know
joy. That inexplicable feeling overwhelms you with peace, hope, love, and other
godly companions.
We know life and can empathize with those believers in Corinth from 2000 years ago. They
were figuring out how to be the church.
They were figuring
out how to be a church. They were not a synagogue that now embraced Christ.
These were mostly pagans from a pagan culture who chose to profess Jesus is
Lord!
They sound
like us. We didn’t grow up Jewish. We don’t fully comprehend grafted in. But we
are trying to please God in this modern and post-modern age.
From where
we were before we knew Jesus to where we are now is life, but for us, it is life
lived in grace. Let’s get to the letter.
Paul began
his letter with his standard salutation—blessing and thanksgiving. He then
moved directly into attacking a leadership crisis at its root. Some had divided
into camps. I follow Apollos, Paul, Peter, and…
Paul noted
that only Christ was crucified for you. There need be no divisions. There must
not be division! Christ is the head of the church. And this is not news. You
know this!
But some do
not. The message of the cross means nothing to them. They are perishing. They
are already dead in their sin but reject the lifeline as foolishness.
Jews demand
signs and miracles. Greeks demand wisdom. Paul said that he came with the
truth, not eloquence. He brought wisdom that the world would call foolishness
in introducing a God they did not know and how much that one true God loved
them.
We preach
Christ crucified. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles—in
this case, the Greeks. God chose the simple things of this world to put the so-called
wisdom of the world to shame.
The
cross—that despicable symbol of Roman power and oppression—will bring liberty
to the one who will receive its message.
In very
short order, Paul got down to business. It’s all rooted in God’s love that we
know in the blood of Jesus. That blood was poured out on the cross. It’s that
simple.
It seems
crazy to a world—a world that is perishing—but it’s nonsense to them,
nonetheless. It just can’t be that simple… There’s got to be a catch…
And what are
we to learn from such counsel? How
about salvation in Christ? Jesus will always be looked upon as foolishness by those who are vested heavily in the things of this world. It does not make sense to
those seeking only self-gratification.
The world
will try to convince you that you are going the wrong way because so many
others are headed in a different direction. But you are to stay the course.
Keep your eyes
fixed on Jesus. Press
on towards the goal.
Paul’s
letters to the church in Corinth are often noted as good teachings because of the problems of this early church. But we should note that this church also had some things going for it.
Paul notes
that the believers had received spiritual gifts, which were known to the community. Later, we will see Paul setting aside the argument over which
gift is greater in these words: Yet I show you the most
excellent way.
This church
had a lot going for it, which makes it an even more valuable resource for us.
Which of our bodies of believers is without fault? Without Gifts?
Corinth had
faults, and they had gifts. They had blessings, and they had blunders. They had
faithful servants, and they had hard cases. The church had growth.
We have
faults and gifts. We struggle and we obtain victories. We try to keep our eyes
on Jesus and put his words into practice, but things get in our way repeatedly. We want to be overcomers but sometimes we find every stumbling block
that there is. Sometimes, we become one.
We need
counsel. Although we may have different problems and opportunities than the believers in Corinth, we have the same mission: to love one another and make disciples.
Having
preached those two words for about a dozen messages in the last half of last
year, I was pleased to hear them at one of those mega-churches with video satellites. Make disciples.
Make Disciples!
We are to
make disciples once we are perfect in everything we do, right? Not!
We make
disciples while we work on our own discipleship. We call others to trade the
wisdom of the world—which is foolishness—for the wisdom of God, and we do it
while we are a work in progress.
And we do it
while the world calls us fools.
Consider who
you were before receiving Jesus as Lord. Now consider the new creation that you
are. It’s a struggle sometimes to live up to being this new creature, but that
struggle is growth, sanctification, and God continuing the good work that he
began in us.
So, keep
pressing on in your journey to live
a life worthy of the calling you have received. And keep inviting
others—others who are perishing—to know this liberty and peace that comes only
through Christ.
Grow in
God’s grace and make disciples. The world considers us foolish. We are assured
of salvation.
To borrow
words from Casting Crowns, Know him and make him known. Even when the
world considers you to be a fool.
Draw nearer
to God and invite others to join us on the journey.
Amen.
