Someone asked me on Sunday if we were going to finish the 1st chapter of I Corinthians tonight. I said that perhaps we would although I thought it would take another couple of nights to finish.
I had the lesson for tonight prepared a couple of weeks ago. If I taught that lesson, we'd get pretty far into this chapter. But God had other plans and He began showing me some things in verse 10 on Monday. I went to bed at 10:40 still thinking of these things and couldn't go to sleep. So, I got up at 11:40 and started rewriting the lesson. So folks, we're not going to get past verse 10 in the first chapter of I Corinthians tonight. And, instead of the usual discussion, this lession is going to be a sermon.
But first, a review:
Paul opens this letter to the church at Corinth with the standard rhetorical elements:
A statement of who the letter is from and in what capacity he is writing - an apostle called by God
To whom he is writing the letter - those in Corinth who have been seperated out from the world by God for His purpose.
A wish prayer
and a thanksgiving
Within the 9 verses of Paul's opening, he does two more things. First, he lets them know that this letter is addressed to every member of the church - noone is excluded. He is not going to be a respector of persons. He does this in verse 1 by saying that the letter is also from Sosthenes. We didn't discuss Sosthenes last week and it's important that we do so. Who is Sosthenes? Turn with me to Acts 18:12-17.
The events we just read about occurred in 53 C.E. Four years later we find Sosthenes with Paul in Ephesus writing a letter to the Corinthian church, which Paul helped to establish just prior to the events we just read about. This is important because Paul already had a reputation for bias in ministering to the Gentiles and he is including Sosthenes, a leading Jew as a writer of this letter to the church at Corinth.
Paul again emphasizes that this letter is to all members of the church in Corinth, without partiality, by giving both a Jewish greeting - Peace unto you- and a Greek greeting - Grace unto you.
The second thing Paul does in the first 9 verses is establish a theological foundation:
The divinity and sovereignty of Christ in verses 3 and 8
and
An eternal versus temporal perspective in verses 2, 4, and 8.
Then we come to verse 10. In the King James Version of our scriptures, verse 10 begins with "Now...". Paul is saying, "OK, now let's get down to business." And, what is the business? We already have a hint that this is going to be a letter of admonition when Paul's thanksgiving in the introduction is to God instead of to the readers of the letter. And this is a strong admonition. Paul, int he capacity of an apostle called by God, begs the members of this church.
And what is the admonition? That you be united in speech, mind and judgement
Speak Laleo - words said Lego - purpose of the words i.e. "I Love You" could be said to butter you up or to express sincere feelings.
Mind knowledge that comes from intamate relationship understanding
Understanding effects our purpose. If our worldview is based on an understanding of eternal things it is going to effect our purpose somewhat differently from a worldview that is based only on an understanding of temporal things.
Paul recognizes the importance of speeck and understanding to the people in this church in the opening of this letter. Here he introduces another element - Judgement.
Translated into the English as Purpose. To understand how this is translated so, think of yourself as a juror. When you understand all the elements of a case, how does this change your purpose concerning the person on trial? Paul, by introducing this third element - purpose - is giving us the key for understanding the rest of his letter. What he is saying in verse 10 is that the Corinthian church is divided because they have varying purposes. If my purpose is to gain prestige, and your purpose is to gain power, we are not going to be united in the things we say and understand.
What am I doing here? (building with Legos - point to lego written on board).
What should be our purpose? It should be God's purpose - to build up the body of Christ for His glory.
God is in the building business. His purpose is to build the body of Christ. He is not in the business of building great church buildings. He can build His body without beautiful church buildings. When we have an edifice complex, we're not united with God in His purpose.
God is not going to build his kingdom with great institutions either. When our purpose is to build great institutions, we are not united with Him in purpose.
God is going to build His kingdom by building up the members of His body. When our purpose is to build each other up, we're united with Him in His purpose.
Remember last Sunday when I said that with God the way up is down? God has to tear our ego down in order to build us up. He does this through discipline. Discipline can be painful. We feel like we're being torn down. But, God's purpose, and ours when we have to discipline, is to build up.
There is one who roams to and fro seeking whom he may devour. His purpose is not to build up but to destroy. When we tear down without the purpose of building up, when we continually point out the problems without offering solutions, our purpose is the same as that of the adversary who is at cross-purposes with God. When we are not part of the solution, we're part of the problem.
I've been accused of being one who continually tears down. If I've done so without building up by pointing to solutions, I ask your forgiveness.
Let's look at these three - speech, understanding, and purpose and make an acronym - SUP.
Can you think of a scripture verse with that word in it? Turn with me to Revelation 3:14-22.
These verses are not addressed to an individual. They are addressed to the church at Laodicea and to our church.
What Christ is saying here is that he is standing at the door of the church knocking. If any one of us in the church will invite him in, he will unite with us in fellowship. When we invite him to be sovereign in our lives as individuals and as a church we share in His eternal purpose.
Who here will repent of their pursuit of temporal purposes and be united with Him in His eternal purpose for you and the Church?
That's what I started writing at 11:40 Monday night and finished writing after 1:00 Tuesday morning. God let me sleep easily after that.
