1 Cor. 1:1-3
It’s a Fact
A. It’s useful to notice the prayers of Paul because what he prays for in the beginning he talks about in the letter.
Maybe you have had this experience when you were in college and went home for Christmas break. You are sitting down for dinner and your mom says, "Let’s pray. Lord, thanks for bringing Mary back this vacation. I hope we have a wonderful time. I hope she studies really hard during this time and does well in her school work and earns a lot of money." From that prayer you know that there will be conversations on those subjects! This is true of Paul, too.
B Paul begins this letter to the church at Corinth by introducing himself and his secretary a fellow named Sosthenes. There is only one other mention of this Christian in the Bible and you find it in (Acts 18:17 KJV) "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things." The city in which this church was located was a very wicked place. It was a major trade city with three harbors and intersecting trade roads. There several cult temples there one of the most notable was a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. You can imagine what the worship was like. There were 1000 slave priests and priestesses there. Paul established the church at Corinth on the second journey he made. He was traveling with Silas and Timothy and made this part of his journey in obedience to the Macedonian call that he received.
C In the letter he wrote to the church at Corinth the Christian and our church can learn many valuable lessons. Let’s begin with some lessons on churches and preachers. Notice three facts God wants us to learn from Paul’s first few words. Facts every person needs to know.
I. God calls men to special service for Him. v1
A Paul states that he is called and apostle. Literally an apostle is one sent out on a mission. An ambassador.
1 Now we are all representatives of Christ, but we are not all officially called to be his representatives on earth. We are His body.
2 But some have been called to this privileged position of missionary or pastor or preacher. (2 Cor 5:20 KJV) "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." Sosthenes was only identified as a brother, he was not a called apostle.
3 Apostleship is a thing of the past, no one can meet the requirements. (Acts 1:21-22 KJV) "Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, {22} Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection."
4 But some are called to special service in other areas. (1 Tim 3:1 KJV) "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."
B An important thing to realize is that when God calls a person to a work, that he also gives the authority to do the work.
1 Moses was called and God provided the authority. When Miriam and Aaron challenged his position, God gave Miriam leprosy. Num 12
2 God called Nehemiah to a job and when his authority was challenged, God stood by him.
3 It was the same with David, Elisha and all God’s leaders, and it is the same today.
4 When God called Paul, God gave him the authority to do the work, and that is why He identified himself to Corinth as an apostle, so they would recognize the authority.
C If you are called to pastor or missionary, by God, then you have been called to an exclusive position. The highest work that God gives to man. God calls people to all sorts of other service also.
1 teaching
2 administrative work in the church
3 singing or leading in worship
4 helping the hurting
5 counselling the confused
6 all sorts of calls are given.
7 But everyone has some calling to answer
II. The second fact is that a church is still a church until God says it isn’t. v2
A If you know the rest of the letter to the church at Corinth, then you know that they were deeply stained by sin.
1 They were proud
2 They were arrogant
3 They were gossiping
4 They were not loving at all
5 They were a sorry church, you would not want to be a member.
B But God in His great mercy and long suffering was still calling it a church as evidenced by Paul’s writings here.
C This isn’t always the case.
1 (Rev 2:1-5 KJV) "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; {2} I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: {3} And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. {4} Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. {5} Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
2 A writer named Charles Paul Conn wrote, "When I lived in Atlanta, several years ago, I noticed in the Yellow Pages, in the listing of restaurants, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill. The peculiar name aroused my curiosity and I dialed the number. A man answered with a cheery, "Hello! Church of God Grill!" I asked how his restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and he told me:
"Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill."
3 This can happen to any church. It could happen here. All it takes is a steady moving from God and one day another believer backslides and God says enough and removes the power of the Holy Spirit. A church without power is nothing more than a Grill or a social club for religious sounding people.
D Don’t be a religious person, be a true Christian. Are you Christ like?
III. The third fact is; Just because you are called a saint doesn’t mean you are one, and just because you are a saint doesn’t make you act like one.
A Paul wrote that the Corinthian’s were called saints. The "be" was supplied by the translators. We are called to be saints in our living, but that is not what Paul was getting at here.
1 He told them they were sanctified by God, and that means they were saved.
2 But many who are called Christians are not, they may do Christian things but they have never trusted Christ as Saviour.
3 Many others who have trusted Christ are living hypocritically. Real Christians are to be sincere. You see, the word "sincere" comes from two Latin words meaning "without wax." Artificers of Middle Eastern countries fashioned highly expensive statuettes out of a very fine porcelain. It was of such fragile nature that extreme care had to be taken when firing the figurines to keep them from cracking.
Dishonest dealers would accept the cracked figurines at a much lower price and then fill the cracks with wax before offering them for sale. But honest merchants would display their uncracked porcelain wares with signs that read, "sine cera," "without wax." We are to be in the world without wax.
B The one thing that hurts the work of Christ and His church in the world today is believers.
1 This is a great problem in our age, and among our churches. The reason is given by Jesus in (Mat 24:10-12 KJV) "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. {11} And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. {12} And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."
2 Because there is so much sin available, and the means of sin can be gotten so easily many believers get cold to Jesus.
3 Beware of television and computers, beware of magazines and friends, there are many who seek to move you away from the love of Jesus.
con
What is Paul doing in this first lines of this letter? He is establishing the authority of his position so that the believers in Corinth will hear him, He is showing them that God has not given up on them yet and he is telling them that just because they are called Christians does not mean they are one or just because they are saved does not mean they are pleasing to God.
