Sinners Made Saints — Introduction to 1 Corinthians

David Krueger

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

1 Corinthians 1:1–9

Church Nature

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An introduction to the most dysfunctional church in the New Testament. Are you being sanctified?

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Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Theme: An introduction to the most dysfunctional church in the New Testament. Are you being sanctified?

Date: 06/27/2021 Title: 1_Corinthinas_01 ID: NT07-01

We are about to begin a significantly long journey through the first letter of Paul to the church at Corinth. I will take time away from the book on occasion, but it will take us the better part of a year to wind our way through this letter.

Throughout the history of the Church there have been two quintessential styles of preaching the Bible — expository and topically. Both are necessary. Topical preaching was the style of preaching I used when we went through the Apostles’ Creed. Each Sunday we looked at a particular doctrinal topic and what the Bible had to say about it. Expository preaching is focused on explaining the meaning of a biblical text, often verse by verse, in its historical and grammatical context. It’s explaining what a passage says in a systematic way. It explains what the author meant when he wrote, and how to apply it to our own circumstances. If we believe that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, infallible Word of God, then we need an orderly understanding of what it says. That means taking a passage of Scripture or a chapter of a bible book or even an entire book of the Bible and gleaning all the truth we can from it. That’s what we will be doing with 1 Corinthians. I have four reasons for wanting to pursue this study of 1 Corinthians.

It covers issues relevant to the church today.

It is full of Godly instructions for dealing with worldliness in the church.

It lays the foundation for a doctrinally and spiritually healthy church.

It offers a long-term vision for the church.

I. THE CHURCH AT CORINTH

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, ... ” (1 Corinthians 1:2, ESV)

1. the story of the Apostle Paul in the city of Corinth begins in the 18th chapter of the Book of Acts on his second missionary journey

“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.” (Acts 18:1–4, ESV)

a. like always, Paul began preaching in the Synagogues at Corinth until he was bared and then he began preaching in Jewish homes that were opened to him, and to the Gentiles who would listen

b. many people believed and came to faith in Christ and were baptized, and God promised that there would be more

“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.”” (Acts 18:9–10, ESV)

c. here is a wonderful promise to every church

1) God has many people in our community — some who have not yet professed Christ as Savior

2) but if we share the gospel with them, they will!

2. Paul stayed in the city a year and a half living with Aquila and Priscilla

a. this all takes place in A.D. 51 — a mere twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus

b. Christianity is quickly spreading throughout the Roman Empire

A. CORINTH THE COMMERCIAL CITY

1. Paul’s missionary strategy was to always start a church in the major metropolitan cities of the Roman Empire

a. Corinth was one of those cities

2. it was a key commercial city at the intersection of two major trade routes

a. it was the economic fulcrum of the Mediterranean world

b. as such it was an exceedingly wealthy city and secondly only to Rome itself in prosperity and riches

3. because it was a strategic commercial city it was truly a cosmopolitan city with a mixed population of Romans, Greeks, Jews, and nationalities from all over the Empire

4. the city was physically impressive with its 1800-foot-high citadel crowned with a temple to Aphrodite

a. like all large Roman towns it boasted of a large central market area, fountains, public baths and gymnasiums, a theater that could seat 18,000, and even a conservatory

ILLUS. In Paul’s day a building boom was going on in Corinth. Paul would have seen building cranes and scaffolding everywhere.

B. CORINTH THE RELIGIOUS CITY

1. Corinth was a Roman Colony and as such its population enjoyed all the rights and privileges of Roman citizens

a. in return they worshiped the Roman emperor as a deity and gave him absolute loyalty

2. in addition there were twenty-six different temples, shrines, and sacred places dedicated to the various Roman, Greek and even Egyptian gods of the day

a. the most impressive was the temple to Aphrodite on the acropolis

b. it was one of the most magnificent temples in the ancient world

C. CORINTH THE WICKED CITY

1. you might say that Corinth specialized in worship-tourism, but it was a profligate worship

a. the Temple to Aphrodite was so rich that it owned a thousand temple courtesans, both men and women, who were dedicated to the goddess, and who prostituted themselves as part of her worship

b. this obviously contributed to the attraction of visitors to the city of Corinth

ILLUS. Just imagine the advertisements scattered around the city; “Come and have a private ‘worship session’ with some of the most beautiful women in Greece.”

c. merchants, sailors and soldiers often squandered all their money “worshiping” at Corinth, so that the following proverb arose “Not every man can afford a trip to Corinth”

d. Corinth was the sin city of its day

ILLUS. To be a Corinthian girl meant one was a sexually loose woman. Living the Corinthian life was a euphemism for being wantonly immoral. In theaters across the Roman Empire, if a play called for a character to be from Corinth, that character was always caricatured as reckless, riotous, full of debauchery and immorality.

2. Corinth was the New York, the Los Angeles, and the Las Vegas of the ancient world

ILLUS. Charles Swindoll writes, “It was a sailor’s favorite port, it was a prodigal’s paradise, it was a policemen’s nightmare, and it was a preacher’s graveyard.”

3. and yet, this was the city where the apostle Paul came to preach the gospel and establish a church

a. if Christianity could succeed here, it could succeed anywhere

II. THE CHRIST AT CORINTH

“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus ... :” (1 Corinthians 1:2, NIV84)

1. one of the most troubled churches in apostolic times was the Corinthian Church

a. they were plagued with a myriad of problems in the church which we will look at in a few moments

2. despite the church’s troubles it is still a church, and it’s God’s church

a. the reason for all the problems in the Corinthian church was that they did not understand the implications of their calling and their relationship with Christ, nor were they submitted to the Lordship of Christ in their experience

1) this remains the primary reason Churches are troubled in our day

b. Paul attempts to rectify their faulty understanding by giving them a quick theology lesson about their identity in Christ

c. look at how the Apostle describes them in the first three verses

A. THEY ARE THE CHURCH OF GOD

1. we would all do well to remember that the Church belongs to God

2. the church is a body of people who belong not to themselves or to any leader or group but to God

a. believers, whether pastors, officers, or ordinary members in the church, together compose Christ’s earthly Body and all are called to be stewards of it

b. we are not our own, individually or collectively, but according to 1 Cor. 6:20, have all been bought with the price of Christ’s blood

B. THEY ARE THOSE SANCTIFIED IN CHRIST JESUS

1. in Christ we have been sanctified, that is set apart for sacred use

“ ... But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV84)

a. in both Old and New Testaments, sanctification is the act of making or declaring something holy

b. in the Bible we discover that God has sanctified us for worship, for service, and for ministry and missions

c. these things are the fruit of our holiness

1) as Christians we should live holy lives, but holy living does not make us holy — the Holy Spirit does that

2) it’s because we are sanctified that we do these things

2. Our Sanctification Has a Specific Beginning — your conversion

a. the moment you come to Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life and immediately begins a reformation project

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, NIV84)

3. Our Sanctification Is a Continuing Process

a. our sanctification will never be completed in this life because there is still sin that remains in our hearts even though we are followers of Christ

ILLUS. C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity talks about the sanctifying work of God in terms of a house renovation. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

4. Our Sanctification Has a Completion Date — the moment we stand before Christ after death

a. when we die, then our sanctification is completed in one sense, because now our souls are finally free from the indwelling sin and are made perfect, but also when the Lord returns and gives us our resurrection bodies, that is also a part of our sanctification

5. according to Scripture, every true believer in Jesus Christ — whether faithful or unfaithful, well known or unknown, leader or follower — is a set apart person, a holy person

a. in the biblical sense, the most obscure believer today; the most sinful believer today is just as much a saint as the apostle Paul

b. this is true because God, not church councils, makes saints

C. THEY ARE CALLED TO BE SAINTS

1. like all believers, the Corinthians were saints because God called them to be saints

a. by His own sacrificial work on the cross, Jesus Christ sanctifies those who believe in Him

b. he sets them apart for Himself, cleanses them, and perfects them

c. our part is to claim holiness, to claim sainthood, by faith in the Son, and then strive to be what we are called to be — saintly

2. Paul’s declaring all the Corinthian believers to be saints was quite a declaration in light of the things — very evident from the rest of this letter — that characterized their living

a. the Corinthian church was far from being saintly in the sense in which the term is often used

1) they were particularly worldly and immoral, yet in his opening words Paul stressed that every one of them who had truly believed in Jesus Christ was saved and was a saint

b. not only are all saints saved, but all the saved are saints (meet ‘St. David)!

1) every believer has the right to call himself a saint

2) none of us is worthy of the title, but God has declared us to be saints because of our trust in His Son

c. that said, our practice, and our behavior needs to be conformed to our “saintly” new divine nature

D. THEY ARE CALLED TO BE IN FELLOWSHIP

“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:” (1 Corinthians 1:2, NIV84)

1. before Paul took the Corinthians to task for their failures as Christians, he carefully and lovingly reminded them that they were Christians

a. they belonged to God and to each other in a far-reaching fellowship with other saints across the empire ... and in time across the world

ILLUS. Cyprian, an early third-century pastor and theologian from Carthage in North Africa was blunt about the importance of Church. He wrote, “ ... he is not a Christian who is not in Christ’s Church ... He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother.”

1) can we be honest this morning? To be hindered in church attendance due to illness or disability is something I believe God understands and is merciful in

2) but to claim to be a Christian and habitually forsake gathering with other Christians is to dishonor God, neglect your spiritual family, and deny the faith

ILLUS. The Barna Research Group reports that there are ten million self-proclaimed born-again Christians in America who do not attend any church. Nearly all of these ten million people say their faith is important to them, but their spiritual life has nothing to do with church. Folks, that’s like saying “I’m alive, but my physical life has nothing to do with breathing!”

3) one of the results of COVID has been a great winnowing out of the Church

a) we are quickly discovering who the real confessing Christians are verses who the cultural Christians are

2. the saints at Corinth have a responsibility to live saintly lives in fellowship with each other so that the lost within the city of Corinth will not think ill of other believers in other places

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV84)

III. THE CRISIS AT CORINTH

1. the Apostle Paul is in the city of Ephesus when he receives a distressing news from some of the saints at Corinth

“My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.” (1 Corinthians 1:11, NIV84)

a. the occasion for writing was a discouraging and distracting rumor concerning the spiritual state of the church where he had labored so faithfully and so earnestly for a year and a half

2. virtually the entire letter of 1 Corinthians, beginning with 1:10, deals with wrong doctrine and wrong behavior

a. it seems that nearly every serious doctrinal and moral error imaginable could be found within that congregation

3. also, certain controversial questions had arisen that the Corinthian believers needed answers to

What is a Christian spouse to do if their non-believing husband or wife abandons them?

Is singleness better than matrimony?

How do we handle spiritual gifts?

Should women preach during the worship of the church?

Is the resurrection necessary?

a. these are not unimportant questions!

4. the church at Corinth was in a crisis, and the Church today is in a crisis

a. such could be said of the church in the early centuries, during the middle ages, in the tumultuous time of the Reformation, and in our modern era

b. from the days when Christians were getting drunk at the communion table in Corinth to the brutal extermination of Christians today at the hands of Islamic terrorists, crises have been constant

c. heresies strike from inside, persecutions from outside

A. 4 BIG CRISES FACING (Western) THE CHURCH

1. We Live in a Society Enthralled by Expressive Individualism

a. expressive individualism is the idea that the highest good is individual freedom, happiness, self-definition, and self-expression

1) the key word is authenticity ... “I must be who I believe I am, and you must accept me for who I say I am” (even if it conflicts with reality)

2) traditions, religions, received wisdom, regulations, and social ties that restrict individual freedom, happiness, self-definition, and self-expression in any way must be reshaped, deconstructed, or destroyed

b. another term for a expressive individualism is radical self-autonomy

1) it is the belief that the self is sovereign — no one has a right to tell you ... well ... anything

2) it’s resistance to anything that might stifle our self-defined freedom

c.“The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever” is what the Shorter Westminster catechism says

1) expressive individualism turns that around; “The chief end of religion is to glorify man so he can enjoy himself forever.”

2. We Have a Pragmatic View of Religion in Our Society That Relegates Our Faith to the Private Sphere of Personal Values

a. in today’s world, people tend to see science as the arbiter of public truth and facts

b. religion is an influence regarding values, but these values aren’t absolute or transcendent

1) religion is therefore relegated to the private and personal, something to be kept away from the public square

ILLUS. This is why liberals always talk about freedom of worship instead of religious liberty. What we say, and do and believe “in here” is fine with them — just don’t take it outside these walls; don’t live your faith or express your faith outside of the home or the church!

c. the challenge here is that many Christians now see their faith only in terms of its effect on their lives, not its overall truthfulness

1) we have become uncomfortable with the radical claims of the gospel, and we instead offer a wishy-washy feel good message, hoping to offend no one

2) it’s our truth vs. their truth and their truth is as truthful as our truth

3) well, no, it’s not ... not on many of the great moral issues of our day

4. An Increasing Number of People See Christian Morality as Not Only Old-fashioned but Also Extreme or Dangerous

a. we are in a moral revolution, in which longstanding beliefs in our culture are being turned upside down

b. as expressive individualism spreads and becomes the dominant view of the world, basic Christian teachings are now considered not old-fashioned, not merely problematic, not just wrong, but extreme and dangerous

5. People Are Increasingly Isolated, Fragmented, and Polarized

a. this was happening before the pandemic hit, but COVID has aggravated the situation

b. the internet exacerbates the problem

1) we say things on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter that we would almost never say to a person face-to-face

c. we have become a disoriented and fragmented society

1) far too many believers go to church because it helps them feel good, not because it makes them good

6. the Church at Corinth was facing a crisis, and 2,000 years later the Church still faces crises

IV. THE CARNALITY AT CORINTH

1. it is important for every Christian to keep in mind the great difference between our position in Christ, and our practice of the faith

a. God sees us as righteous, because He sees us through His righteous Son, who has taken our place, and because He has planted in us a righteous new nature

b. without keeping this important and encouraging truth in mind, it is impossible to clearly understand 1 Corinthians or any other part of the New Testament

2. the issues facing the church at Corinth are multifaceted — there are moral issues, there are relational issues, there are theological issues, and there are congregational issues

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1–3, NIV84)

3. every once in a while you’ll hear some Christian say, “I think we just need to get back to doing things like the 1st century church did!”

a. and I think “Not THIS church!”

A. A CONGREGATION FULL OF WORLDLY CHRISTIANS

ILLUS. Horatius Bonar, 19th century Scottish pastor and churchman was very perceptive when he wrote, “I looked for the church and I found it in the world; I looked for the world and I found it in the church.” It was a rebuke to the church of his day. It remains a rebuke of the church because his comment remains true of the church today.

1. when it comes to The World vs. The Church sometimes it seems as though the world is winning

a. denomination after denomination seem to have abandoned the authority of the Scriptures and replaced it with the authority of the culture

b. the result is that cultural rot has infiltrated the churches big time

c. the strong sense of certainty and assurance which is everywhere found in the New Testament has given way to sloppy sentimentalism and spiritual lethargy

2. the Apostle has spent eighteen months in Corinth preaching the gospel and planting a church, and then he moved on to the city of Ephesus to repeat the process

a. while he is in Ephesus Paul receives a letter 1) detailing the problems in the church and 2) asking for clarification on certain doctrinal issues

b. there are five broad categorizes the Apostle speaks to

1) chapters 1-4 deal with divisions in the congregation

2) chapters 5-7 deal with sex, marriage and singleness

3) chapters 8-10 deal with food and Christian liberty

4) chapters 11-14 deal with worship

5) chapter 15 deals with heresy — particularly concerning the resurrection

c. those of you who are observant have just concluded, “Huh. The Church is still dealing with all those issues”

3. yep! sure is!

Con. In the months ahead, I hope that you’ll see the relevance of this epistle. So many of the issues facing the Body of Christ today are found here in the Church at Corinth, and Paul will deal with each one of them. His answers to the problems in that church remain the answers to what’s happening in the Church today.

The question of the morning is this: “Do you yourself to be the believer God declares you to be? ... Saved by grace, sanctified by the Spirit, in fellowship with the church, and a witness to those around you? “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 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.” (1 Corinthians 1:4–9, ESV)

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