who s having an affair with his father s wife. realize what an awesome privilege it is that God woul

Transcription

1 and that s not even the worst of it. There s actually someone silent about the things going on in His church. And I who s having an affair with his father s wife. realize what an awesome privilege it is that God woul But if you look a little closer, there are some other details us through His Word. I hope the wonder of that is nev to tip you off that this isn t the Jerry Springer Hall of Shame. us. In I pray that it never becomes commonplace: God H fact, it actually starts to sound a lot like a modern-day church. speaks to us. There are people arguing over who their favorite preacher is, And starting this week, we re going to listen to people fighting about how worship should look and sound, has to say to us in 1 Corinthians. So turn in your Bibl people claiming that their particular ministry is more important to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We re going to look at the than all the others, and people who go to the same church but verses today. 1 Corinthians 1:1-3. Paul writes, Paul don t possess a shred of love for one another. be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and o But this isn t a description of a modern-day church, Sosthenes, either. This description actually comes straight from the pages of To the church of God in Corinth, to those san 1 Corinthians, which Paul wrote to the church at Corinth almost Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all th 2000 years ago. And it really is startling to realize how similar everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus C the issues in this letter sound to the issues churches face today. Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Paul writes about lawsuits, alcohol problems, sexual immorality, the Lord Jesus Christ. tolerance of sin in the church, worship wars, division in the We re going to look at two main truths from th church. And it makes you wonder whether the old cliché just today, but in order to really understand what God is te might be true: The more things change, the more they stay the we need to know a little bit about the people mentione

2 the north, had to pass through Corinth. On top of that, the Ionian homosexuals, thieves, greedy, alcoholics, slanderers, a Sea is to the west of Corinth and the Aegean Sea is to the east, swindlers. That s quite a list. And now, with that pict and the easiest way to get from one to the other was to cross that Corinthian church in mind, look at chapter 1, verse 2 w little 4-mile strip of land. So all the land travel and all the sea again, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanc travel had to pass through Corinth. This caused the city to grow. Christ Jesus and called to be holy. It became a major trade center in the Roman Empire. It also Paul says that they re sanctified in Christ Jes became a major entertainment center. The Isthmian Games was a really interesting way for him to describe these vile, the second largest athletic event in the world, second only to the Corinthians. And we ll come back to that in just a few Olympics, and they were held in Corinth. To top it all off, so hold on to that thought. Corinth had a famous temple that was built for Aphrodite, the Right now, we re going to move on to Paul. M goddess of love. This temple housed about 1000 prostitutes all are familiar with Paul s story. He was actually named the time. And with all the travel and trade and tourists and sailors he was born. He was a very religious Jew and became who came through Corinth, you can guess that the prostitutes scholar. He studied under Gamaliel, who was suppose were never lacking for work. As a result, Corinth became known best Jewish teacher in the world at that time, and Paul as one of the most immoral, corrupt cities in the entire ancient brightest, most promising student. After Jesus resurr world. In fact, the Greeks even developed a slang word out of when the church formed in Jerusalem, Paul was one o the name Corinth. To Corinthianize meant to lead a filthy, who opposed the Christians and began to persecute the immoral lifestyle. And Paul tells us in chapter 6 that a lot of the Paul was present when Stephen was stoned to death in members of the Corinthian church had lived exactly that kind of After this, the Christians fled from Jerusalem to avoid

3 truth, and his entire life drastically changed after his encounter what Paul says about him in 1 Corinthians 1:1, Paul, with Jesus. Instead of traveling to hunt down Christians and be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and o persecute them, he began to travel as a missionary who preached Sosthenes. the gospel and started churches all over the Roman Empire. And Paul calls him our brother. It s hard to beli it was during his second missionary journey in Acts 18 that Paul is the way Paul would describe someone who had bee came to Corinth and started a church there. and so antagonistic toward him in the past. So knowing that Paul persecuted the church and had So what s going on here? We ve got the Corin Christians arrested and perhaps even killed, read 1 Corinthians people who have engaged in a whole laundry list of vi 1:1 with me again, Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus behaviors, but Paul says they re sanctified in Christ Je by the will of God. It s fascinating that given all of Paul s got Paul, who opposed Christ and persecuted Christian history all of the horrible baggage in his past this is how refers to himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the w Paul describes himself. And again, we re going to come back And to then we have Sosthenes, who conspired against P that in just a few minutes, so hold on to that thought. tried to have him arrested, but Paul refers to him as a b We have one more person to look at first: Sosthenes. It What s going on here? What s going on is tha was while Paul was in Corinth on his missionary journey that he seeing one of the great truths that God teaches us in th first met Sosthenes, but it wasn t the encounter you might expect. None of these people are defined by who they ve been When Paul started the church in Corinth, he stayed for a year and they ve done in the past. Instead, their identity is foun a half, preaching about Jesus. And Acts 18:8 tells us that many they are now in Jesus Christ. Corinthians believed and were baptized. And the Jews began to And the same should be true of us. As followe

4 way we dress, or in our job or our successful business, or in our And maybe some of you are here today and yo children, or in our political affiliation, or even in our church value and self worth primarily in your own success an affiliation and our religious practices. And against of all that the accomplishments. You ve got a good job or you make Bible declares over and over, No! No! Find your identity in grades or you wear the right clothes and drive the righ Jesus alone. None of those other things define who you are. You you re really intelligent or you ve raised good kids, an are defined by your relationship with Jesus. good about what you ve done with your life. You fee That is what it means to be a follower of Jesus: that you content and secure in this kingdom you ve built for yo see yourself you see every part of your life in relation to pray that God will get your attention this morning, and Jesus. It means that your life no longer belongs to you, and your blow the cover off that façade. Because whatever you life is no longer about you. Your life belongs to Jesus, and your accomplishments are, however successful you ve been life is about Jesus. It means that you think about every part of is it s not good enough. None of it is as valuable as your life in relation to Jesus: Your work, your hobbies, your Christ. None of it can do for your soul what He can d money, your time all of it is about Jesus. soul. None of it matters like a relationship with Jesus And notice that this works in both the positive and the So don t put your trust in what you ve done. Put your negative direction. The identity of Paul, Sosthenes, and the who Jesus is. And all those accomplishments you wou Corinthians is not tied up in their accomplishments or their credit for all that glory you would claim for yoursel failures. It s not in their accomplishments. It s not, Paul, the Jesus feet this morning, and find your identity and yo great Jew, the religious scholar who studied under Gamaliel. the person of Jesus Christ. It s, Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of On the flip side, no one in our text is defined b

5 haunted by the mistakes of your past. You re weighed down by church, and you have a recipe for a major mess. the guilt and baggage of things you can t change or undo. And But look at verse one again and think about ho when you think of yourself, there s a label that always comes to handled it, Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jes mind: Drug addict, gambler, thief, liar, adulterer, divorcee, will of God, and our brother Sosthenes. aborted a child. I want you to know God will rip that label off of This verse tells us that God did two things for you this morning and tear it into a million pieces and burn those at Corinth. First, He called Paul to be an apostle. Tha pieces. When you trust Jesus, God wipes away your sin and puts apostle means one who is sent. It carries with it the all new labels on you: Forgiven, Righteous, Holy, Sanctified, connotation that the apostle is sent with the message a Cleansed, Set Free, Child of God. authority of the one who is sending him. In other wor When you re a follower of Jesus, you re not defined by selected Paul and sent him with the very message that your accomplishments. And when you re a follower of Jesus, Corinthian church needed to hear. Plus, God knew ho you re not defined by your failures. When you re a follower of unhealthy the church was, so He gave Paul all the auth Jesus, you re defined by the work of Jesus in your life. And so needed in order to speak to the church and set them str the first truth we need to see in our text this morning is that you But here s the really interesting thing: God cal are to find your identity in Jesus alone. You should think of almost 20 years before any of these problems had occu every aspect of your life in relation to Jesus. Corinthian church. In fact, God called Paul almost 15 The second truth we need to see jumps out at us when we before the Corinthian church even existed. So here s w think about what God did for the Corinthian church. You see, in as this verse: God knew that the day was coming when we work our way through 1 Corinthians we re going to see that Corinth would be in desperate need of help. And he

6 But that s not all that God does as if that s not enough. Corinthian church the exact right help. God knew wh Look at the end of verse one. God didn t just provide Paul for people would need, and He gave them exactly what th the Corinthian church. God also provided Sosthenes. Now And the great news is, this isn t limited to just remember, Acts 18 tells us Sosthenes was a native Corinthian, at Corinth. Look at verse 2 again, To the church of G and a very important Jewish leader in Corinth. He was the ruler Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called of the synagogue there. And he s the one who tried to have Paul together with Who?...together with all those eve arrested while he was in Corinth. But now, we see that who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. somewhere between the time Paul first visited Corinth and the This isn t just how God worked at Corinth. Th time that Paul wrote this letter, which was about five years later, God works for all His people everywhere who call on God had gotten a hold of Sosthenes, and he became a follower of of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like God met the needs Jesus. So not only did God provide Paul as an apostle to help church the in Corinth in the first century, God will meet th church through this difficult time, God also raised up Sosthenes, church in Mt. Juliet in the 21 st -century. Just like G a native Corinthian and a religious leader, who could help deliver working in Paul s life and Sosthenes life to accomplis God s message to the church. purposes in Corinth then, God is working in your life So what we find is that years in advance, God was taking to accomplish His purposes in Mt. Juliet now. these separate stories of Paul and Sosthenes and the Corinthian God knows what this church needs. God know church that didn t even exist yet, and weaving them together, so need. God has known it for years in advance. And Go that at the perfect moment, He could give His church the teaching working. He s been working in the lives of people tha and leadership it needed. even know, all over the world, and in ways that you w

7 So I want to encourage you today that God knows what you re Paul said about the members of the Corinthian church going through. He knew about it long before you did. And He 6? is He said, Some of you were sexually immoral, ido well-equipped to take care of it. God always gives His people adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, gre exactly what they need even when we don t see it coming. drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers. These Corinthi And, Church, I want to encourage you that God knows Christians had horrible sins in their past. Now, look a exactly where we are as a church. He knows exactly what s with me one more time, To the church of God in Cor going on here. He knows about the growth in this community. those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy. He knows about our missions program. He s knows about our These horrible Corinthian sinners have been sa building campaign. He knows about our budget. He knows all Christ of Jesus and called to be holy. Now this is fascina our needs and all of our desires for ministry. He knows our you know what the word sanctified means? It litera opportunities and hopes. He knows our challenges and struggles. to be made holy. The word sanctified and the wo And He has already been working for years in advance to take actually come from the exact same root word in Greek care of His church and meet the needs of His people. Years and Paul wrote this verse to the Corinthian church, what h years ago, God called out people like Mike Lee and Terry Carver wrote was, to those made holy in Christ Jesus and ca and David Fallin and Phillip Brunner and Micah Brown to come holy. along at just the right time and lead this church. And God is Think about what Paul is saying here. He s sa working in the lives of a lot Sosthenes who are here in this Corinthians are idolaters and adulterers and thieves an church now. God has gifted so many of you and brought you to drunkards and terrible sinners, and God has called you this place at just the right time, and I pray that you will you step but there s no way you could ever do it on your own.

8 myself. Because we are a wretched bunch of sinners. God has So Church, I pray that you will trust in God s g called us to be holy, but we could never do it on our own. So pray that you will rest in God s grace. I pray that you God offers to make us holy in Jesus. celebrate God s grace. I pray that you will find your i Which brings us to verse three. Verse 3 is how God Jesus alone. And I pray that you will trust God to give makes filthy, vile sinners holy, Grace and peace to you from exactly what you need in Jesus. God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace. God gives to us what God commands of us. God commands that we be holy, so God gives us grace to make us holy. You see, more than anything else in the world, the Corinthians needed grace, and God gave them exactly what they needed. And more than anything else in the world today, you need grace, and God is ready to give you exactly what you need. So as we close today, take these two truths with you: First, your identity is found in Jesus alone. When you trust Jesus, God no longer measures you by what you have or have not done. He measures you by what Jesus has done for you. And as a result, you should see your whole life in relation to Jesus, because every aspect of your life belongs to Jesus. Your identity