this last week's privilege to be a part of a
class at the Moody Graduate School that was called
the Biblical Theology of Missions. As part of
the week, we took a field trip to see three ministries
in Chicago that are ministering in mission -type
settings. One of them was to a church ministering
to the Mexican community west of downtown Chicago.
in an area called the Little Village or La Vejita.
In that two and a half square mile area, 100
,000 Mexicans live. And there's a vibrant church
that has been planted there now for several years
called the La Vejita Community Church. It is
a wonderful example of the power of God moving
in a whole community as Hundreds of people have
come to faith in Christ, and as part of that,
they have a vision of developing their community
and doing lots of interesting things to go into.
As we were driving through that region, though,
we crossed some tracks, some railroad tracks,
and literally on the other side of the tracks,
you enter a new community. It's called the Lawndale
Community. As completely as the community to
the south is Mexican, the community on the other
side of the tracks to the north is African -American.
The community on the south is filled with violence
and gangs. That is not so in the African -American
community on the north. However, there is no
love lost between the two communities. Indeed,
there's a lot of hatred and hostility between
the blacks and the Mexicans there on the west
side of Chicago. But in that Lawndale community,
there is another church similar to La Veita Community
Church. It's called the Lawndale Community Church.
It's been there a number of years longer than
the Mexican church. It too has a philosophy of
developing the community and doing lots of interesting
things and reaching out to the people in their
African -American community. They have, for example,
a medical clinic there that has 21 full -time
medical people who are functioning just like
any other medical clinic in a community, except
their services are for the most part free. And
every week they are ministering to thousands
of people who come through there and sharing
the gospel with them. One of the neat things
that's happening is that the La Veita Community
Church and the Lawndale Community Church are
beginning to do things together. And our pattern
to that whole area of Chicago, what it is like
to see people who are one in Jesus Christ who
come out of lots of different kinds of backgrounds.
In this particular case, a lot of Latin background
and African -American background coming together
as one in Jesus Christ and they're doing things
together to show to everyone what kind of hope
there is in Christ and the reconciliation that
he brings in relationships. and how that though
they are very different in many ways, they are
still one in Him. You know, that was the testimony,
that was the witness of the early church as well.
And we see that in the city of Corinth, where
we're going to be studying for the next several
months, as people were brought out of lots of
different kinds of backgrounds, as we'll see
as we work through the book. But coming out of
those diverse backgrounds, they evidenced a unity
and a oneness, a fellowship in Jesus Christ.
And that's what we think about this morning as
we turn to the first nine verses of chapter one.
We think about the fellowship that they enjoyed
in God's church. Now, Paul went to the city of
Corinth on his second of three missionary journeys.
While he and his party were in the city of Troas
waiting for the Lord to give them direction,
he had what is called the Macedonian vision.
At night, a man from Macedonia appeared to him
in a vision and said, come over and help us.
As a result of that, the apostle Paul left Troas,
which is located in Asia Minor, and obviously
is on the continent of Asia, and crossed the
Aegean Sea into the European continent. It would
be nearly impossible to overstate the significance
of that little journey and that direction of
the gospel in world history. For because the
Apostle Paul entered into the Europe with the
gospel, the European continent eventually became
largely Christian, in at least a cultural sense.
And that has impacted our own culture 2 ,000
years later. When the Apostle crossed over the
Aegean Sea, he first went to Philippi and you
know the story of what happened there and how
he was thrown into jail with Silas. At midnight
they were singing and praising God and an earthquake
happened and the jailer came in. He said, what
must I do to be saved? They said believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that story. But
it wasn't long before they left Philippi and
went on to the city of Thessalonica and then
to Berea. While they were in Berea, some of the
Jews who were violently opposed to them in Thessalonica
came to Berea and forced them to move on to Athens.
And there, Paul stood on Mars Hill and gave that
tremendous address in Acts chapter 17. From there,
he journeyed on westward about 50 miles to the
city of Corinth. Now, the picture that David
presented last week to you is a wonderful picture
of what Corinth was like. It was a major commercial
center. It had routes that went through it and
also had two major ports, one on the Adriatic
Sea to the north and another on the Aegean Sea
to the east. There was a lot of commerce in this
city of people coming and going from all over
the then known world. In addition to that, Corinth
was a religious city and center. It had two patron
deities. One of them was Poseidon. who is the
god of the sea in Roman mythology is called Neptune.
And the other was the goddess that David mentioned
last week, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, of
sexual, sensual love, called Venus in the Roman
mythology. In this city, there was a temple that
was very large and dedicated to Aphrodite. The
worship there was very sensual. There were a
thousand prostitutes involved in that pagan worship.
And it was such a major impact in Corinth that
some of the Christians were still dealing years
later with the leftovers in their lives of that
sort of worship. And we'll see that as we work
through the book. So morally corrupt. was the
culture of Corinth that there was a verb that
was made out of the name. And in that day, the
verb to Corinthianize meant to live a very sensual,
licentious, promiscuous, immoral kind of life.
This letter that we're going to be studying was
written several years after Paul was there. It
was written from the city of Ephesus. The date
of the writing is probably 55 or 56 AD, near
the end of Paul's three -year stay in the city
of Ephesus. It was written because Paul had received
some specific questions from people in the city
of Corinth related to some of the things happening
in the church and how they were to respond to
that. The people who brought Paul the questions
also delivered their own perspective on things,
and out of those perspectives and reports that
they delivered, Paul said some additional things.
This letter of 1 Corinthians is a letter for
our day. It is a letter that is relevant to many
of the concerns and issues that we face in our
world. The society then worshipped The God of
human thinking, human reason, was exalted, and
it is so in ours. In that society, they bowed
at the altar of sensual pleasure. Sexuality was
flaunted, as it is in ours. In that society,
they sought the sensational in their experiences.
And today, that certainly is the existential
kind of philosophy that our culture is following.
In addition to that, the church was rather affluent
and materialistic. It was desirous of the world's
acceptance. It was apostolic in what it believed,
but it was conformist in how it behaved. In other
words, they said, we believe what the Apostle
Paul preached. We believe what Peter preached.
But they didn't live like it. They lived like
the devil. It was a church, therefore, that was
beset by problems. There were divisions in the
church. There was carnal living. There was immorality.
There was the lack of commitment to marriage.
There were disagreements over what Christians
can or cannot do related to the cultural practices
of the city. There were problems regarding spiritual
gifts, not to mention confusion in the church.
over the doctrine of the resurrection. And so
in this epistle, the Apostle Paul is largely
intending to correct and to instruct them. But
before he corrects them, he commends them. And
he reassures them of God's faithfulness to them
as a church, despite their questions, despite
their confusion, and despite their problems.
God is faithful. That's why he's able to give
thanks. not because of the way they were living
necessarily, but because God is faithful to His
people. And so I begin reading in verse 1 of
1 Corinthians 1. Paul called an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes our brother
to the church of God which is at Corinth, to
those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,
saints by calling. With all who in every place
call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their
Lord and ours Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I Thank
my God always concerning you For the grace of
God which was given you in Christ Jesus That
in everything you were enriched in him in all
speech and all knowledge even as the testimony
concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that
you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly
the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall also confirm you to the end blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful
through whom you were called into fellowship
through his Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful
through whom you were called into, he says. God's
church comprises people. People who are imperfect,
but nonetheless who are in fellowship. He says
you, you Corinthians, some of you who are living
like the devil, some of you who are gossiping
and talking behind others backs, some of you
who are picking favorites as to who you're going
to follow, whether it's me or Paul, whether it's
me or Peter or Paulus or someone else. You people
are confused over what you believe. You who are
going to court against one another. He says,
all of you, despite all of these things, though
you're imperfect, you were called into fellowship
with Jesus Christ. The word fellowship is koinonia.
It means to share in common, to share in common.
We're going to find that the idea of fellowship
is a key idea in this whole book. They were called
into sharing with one another Jesus Christ, despite
the differences that exist among believers, some
of which are legitimate and some of which are
sinful. You also, if you believe in Jesus Christ,
share important things in common with others.
What I want to urge you to do today is to learn
to live with your focus on those things that
you have in common with others rather than on
the differences. Oh, it makes such a difference
in how you live. There are some Christians who
like to focus on the negative things. They like
to pick at the things where there are differences
with other believers. And those things become
the pivot around which their whole lives revolve.
That is not the will of God. There will always
be differences among the people of God. Some
of them will be legitimate and some of them will
be sinful. that we are called upon to be in fellowship,
to share together in common those things that
we have in Christ. Therefore we need to learn
to focus on those things that we have in common.
What do you share in common with others in God's
Church? If you and I will learn what those things
are, and will come to focus on them, then we
will truly be in fellowship with the saints.
There will still be the distinctives and the
differences, but we will be in fellowship because
we are focusing on those things that we share
in Jesus Christ. What do you share as one who
is in fellowship with the saints of God in Jesus
Christ? The first thing that Paul seems to talk
about in this This paragraph that we've read
is that you share in His grace verses 1 through
4. Now remember that God's grace is His undeserved
kindness that is expressed in some action on
your behalf. It is God doing something in your
life that you don't deserve. That's His grace.
What has He done? to show His grace to you. Well,
the Apostle points to three things. First of
all, He's called you out. He's called you out.
That's the first act of grace. He's called you
out of the world to belong to Him for some special
purpose. In verse 2, He speaks of us as the Church.
The very name Church means the called out ones.
Over and over again you see the word call or
calling in these verses. We are called into fellowship.
The emphasis is that you and I have been appointed
by God's grace to a new relationship. We have
been called out by God from our past relationship
to the world to be related to God's Son and to
be related to one another. Because God has called
us out, we therefore have called upon the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 2. Which comes
first, God's calling to us or our calling upon
the Lord? The answer is that those two occur
quite close together, but the fact is that God's
calling comes to us first. Theologians call it
the efficacious call of God. It is that call
of God that cannot be resisted. It is His work
in our hearts to open our eyes to our sin, to
make us see our need of Christ. And as a result
of that, in an awareness of the gospel that He
presses into our minds, we call upon the name
of the Lord for salvation. We reach out to Him.
James says in Acts chapter 15, Simon has described
to us how God at first showed his concern by
taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.
In that brief sentence, he really summarizes
all that God is doing this whole age. God is
about the work of taking out a people from the
world for his name, calling us out to belong
to him. Peter puts it this way, you are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people belonging to God. That you may declare
the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His wonderful light. Here's who you are
because God has called you out. My friend, you
share that with other believers. That is the
work of God's grace in your life. There's a second
work the Apostle points to besides the fact that
God has called us out. He says he set you apart
in verse 2 He says to those who have been sanctified
in Christ Jesus. That's what the word sanctified
means to be set apart We are saints The sanctifying
work of the Spirit is not some secondary work
of grace It is a primary work and it occurs simultaneously
with our calling The very moment that God called
us to faith in Jesus Christ, He also sanctified
us or set us apart. He cleansed us and He washed
us and set us apart to a new and holy purpose.
And that purpose is in Christ Jesus. That speaks
to a new identity that we have. We've been set
apart to a new identity as those who are in Christ
Jesus, no longer in the world, but in Christ
Jesus. Jesus. You share that with others in the
fellowship. You share God's grace, His grace
calling you out, His grace setting you apart.
But there is a third act of grace that He points
to, and that is again in verse 2 where He says
that we have been joined together. He's called
you out, He sets you apart, and He's joined you
together with all who in every place. He says
call upon the name of the Lord This Lord who
is their Lord and ours This speaks to a new association
that we have Before we were associated with those
who are of the world who were traveling with
us on the way to hell The destiny of all who
are ungodly and unbelieving But God called us
out, He set us apart, and now He has joined us
together with others in a new association. It
is the Church of God. Jude points us in the same
direction when he says, Beloved, while I was
making every effort to write to you about our
common salvation. Paul joins him when he says,
To Titus, my true child in a common faith. This
word common doesn't mean that it's cheap. It
means it's something that is shared together.
We share it in common. It is a common salvation,
a common faith. And so Peter says this in 2 Peter
1 .1, Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a
faith of the same kind as ours. a faith of the
same kind as ours. That's what's holding that
fellowship of those two churches together on
the west side of Chicago. Because they see whether
they are Mexicans or they're blacks, that in
Jesus Christ, God has called them out and set
them apart and joined them together. And though
they may even fellowship in different churches
and have different styles, of worship which they
do, and they may be involved in different sorts
of ministry which they are, they are nonetheless
joined together because they have received a
faith of the same kind. Literally what Peter
says there is, to the ones having obtained equally
precious faith with us. Equally precious faith.
It means it's faith that has the same privileges.
And so we belong to a new order and the body,
the Church of God. So these are the wonderful
works of God that we share and which we need
to focus on. Because of these works of God's
grace, we have a new relationship, we have a
new identity, we have a new association that
we're a part of. You could summarize all of that
in that phrase, the Church of God. Now, Paul
elaborates upon these works of God's grace in
the rest of the book, and I hope that you'll
join us as we work our way through verse by verse
in the book of 1 Corinthians. And we continue
to understand what these things mean that God
has done, this new relationship, and this new
identity, and the ramifications of it, and the
new association, what that means, therefore,
in our lives. This morning, we need to press
on to see what else we share. in Jesus Christ
besides His grace. Paul in verses five through
seven, the first part of verse seven says that
we likewise share in His gifts, in His gifts.
He says that in everything you were enriched
in Him in all speech and knowledge. Verse seven,
so that you are not lacking in any gift. We share
in the gifts of Jesus Christ. Now there's some
questions I want to ask about these gifts that
I hope will help us understand these verses.
The first is, what are these gifts? Well the
word gift here is charisma. If you have ever
heard the word for grace in the New Testament,
caris, you see that it comes right out of that
word. These are the grace gifts. They are Empowerments
that the Spirit of God gives to us to serve Jesus
in the body and in our world. The charisma of
God, the gifts. It is a grace given ability to
serve the Lord and he points to two general categories.
He talks about those things dealing with speech
and those with knowledge. He says, God has gifted
you for the preaching of the truth and for the
apprehending of the truth. You don't lack anything.
Every church has the gifts that it needs in the
body. I'm convinced of that. I believe that God
the Holy Spirit gifts us with what we need. And
if there are lack, it's because we are not using
those gifts. We are not either coming forward
to use them, or we are not serving in areas where
we're gifted. God the Holy Spirit gives to a
church the gifts that it needs to carry out God's
purpose and God's will for that church. That's
what the gifts are. A second question we might
ask is, when are these gifts given? Because we
are being told by some these days that we need
to ask for the gifts But here the language says
that those gifts came to us at the moment of
salvation He says you were enriched in him the
tenths of that verb points to the past it says
this happened in the past at one one time And
so there at that moment of salvation God gifted
to you and to me what we are able to do in the
body of Christ. We receive at that moment our
empowerment. We don't have to seek additional
gifts. We simply need to discover the gifts that
God has already given us inside. Very likely
most of us have not discovered all of those gifts.
We need to discover how God has gifted us and
used those gifts in the body. They were given
to us at the moment of our salvation. And by
the way, those gifts that I'm talking about,
those are the true wealth of a church. A church
is not wealthy because of what it has in the
bank or what its annual budget is. A church is
not wealthy because of its missions dollars given.
A church is wealthy because of the gifts that
God has invested in its people. He points to
that when He says, you were enriched in Him.
You were enriched in Him. You were made wealthy,
He says literally, in Him by the gifts that were
given you. And that answers the question of where
these gifts came from because it says they came
to us by Him, by Christ. He's the head of the
church who sovereignly bestows the gifts as we'll
see in chapters 12, 13, and 14. Now what's the
result of these gifts being given? Verse 6 is
an interesting verse. He says, even as the testimony
concerning Christ was confirmed in you. The testimony
or the witness concerning Christ was what Paul
had preached to them. And he says, the fact that
you have received the witness of Christ is authenticated.
It's confirmed by the fact you have spiritual
gifts. What is Paul saying here? He's saying
that one of the evidences that a person is genuinely
saved is the presence of spiritual gifts in his
life. The Spirit of God's presence, his empowerment
is obvious because of the gifts that are there.
If there are no gifts, then that person is obviously
not a believer, is what he's saying. The testimony
about Jesus Christ is confirmed in us by the
presence of these gifts by which Christ has enriched
the body. And so you, if you are a believer in
Jesus Christ, share in the goodness of the Spirit,
unless you're not genuinely saved. What this
tells us is that even carnal believers have gifts.
They may be unused, they may be abused, but even
carnal believers have gifts. Paul is excited.
He thanks God for this fact that the gifts are
evident in them that they have been enriched
They've been made wealthy because that shows
that his ministry there was Genuine that is being
authenticated by the gifts being present in the
church Now you share in the gifts of Jesus Christ
in his body If you're a believer in Jesus Christ,
you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Focus
on that. Focus on the fact that you have these
empowerments, these abilities. Don't focus on
the differences between your gifts and others,
or your opinions and others, but focus on the
fact, look, I'm gifted, and because of my gifts,
I have certain perspectives, and I'm going to
bring those perspectives to any discussion. But
because someone else is gifted differently and
has different perspectives doesn't mean that
he's wrong and I'm right Or that he's right and
I'm wrong. It simply means we're gifted differently
But we share these gifts and we need each other
Focus on the fact that you share in the gifts
of Christ That brings us to the last thing that
Paul focuses on here is what we share in Christ
and that is we share in his glory Verses seven
and eight talk about that. You share in the glory
that is coming. He speaks about our anticipation
of that glory when he talks about the revelation
of Jesus Christ, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He speaks of Christ coming here as an apocalypse.
The word apocalypse means unveiling, the appearing,
the manifestation of Jesus Christ. The emphasis
in Paul's mind is on the visibility of that event.
He says, now Christ's glory is veiled. We can't
see him, nor can the world, but he says there
is a day coming when the veil is going to be
taken up and his glory will be manifested. He
talks more about this in 1 Corinthians chapter
15 when he speaks about the rapture. In chapter
two, he speaks about the fact that the Lord of
glory has come. He's been crucified through the
ignorance of the princes of this world, but what
they did in ignorance has resulted in our glory,
our glory. We anticipate the glory that will
come to us when Jesus returns. He talks about
our assurance of this anticipation. He says,
who shall confirm you to the end? He says He
will make you stable. He will establish you until
God's full purpose is attained in you. And He
says you will be blameless. That is a legal term.
In the sight of God, you will be blameless. Literally
the word means you will not be called in. You
will not be summoned to court. You will not be
accused. There will be no legal charge against
you. in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. What
a blessed assurance that is. How these Corinthians
need to be reminded of that is they were living,
some of them, pretty sinfully. But he thanks
God and he wants to point them in the direction
of the fact that they have glory coming and that
day they're going to be blameless in the sight
of God, however blameful they may be at the moment.
He thanks God for this. You know, I can thank
God for it as well. That we share this glory
and one day all of us are going to be perfect
in the presence of the Lord. And all the imperfections
in the body are going to be gone and we'll be
completely without spot and blemish in His presence.
And our attitude about that ought to be what
Paul points to here when he says we eagerly await.
We eagerly await. the appearance of Jesus Christ.
He says in Philippians 3 .20, our citizenship
is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait
for a savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. You and
I share a glory that is to come. Should not the
fact that we're going to share that glory of
being blameless in His presence? And the fact
that we'll be together forever, should not that
cause us to forget our petty differences now
and to forgive our grievances that we have against
one another here in this world? It's certainly
ought to. You see how Paul is moving here? Before
he corrects them, he wants to commend them. And
he does that. He thanks God for them. He thanks
God that they are sharers in God's grace. They
are sharers in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
They are sharers in the glory that is to come.
What he's doing here is laying the foundation
for now how he's going to appeal to them, sometimes
very directly and strongly. Paul thanks God for
their future. He's not especially grateful for
their present condition, but he thanks God for
their future. Despite the common things they
shared, however, they were a church that was
at war. They were at war. Why was that? Because
although they were the church of God, and though
they were called into the fellowship of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Jesus was not really Lord of the
lives of many of those people. Five times in
these verses we've read, he uses that term Lord.
Four out of the five, He precedes it with that
personal preposition, possessive preposition
that says, our Lord, our Lord. The real question
is, were they living under the Lordship of Christ?
And the answer is no in many cases. When Jesus
Christ is Lord, He corrects our vision. He corrects
our vision of ourselves and of others. And when
He corrects our vision, our focus then is on
what it should be. On those things that matter
forever. Not the temporal things about which
there are differences in the body of Christ.
The closing question I have this morning is this.
Which is your life focus? Where you differ with
other believers? or on what you share with others
in God's church. I can tell you that if you're
focused on those things where you differ with
other believers, you're probably a pretty unhappy
person. And it's evidence that Jesus is not really
Lord because He calls us to fellowship. He calls
us to focus on those things that we have together
in common. So what is your focus today? Are you
a positive Christian who sees those things that
you share with other believers and you're rejoicing
in that? Or are you a negative Christian who's
focused on the picky things? The little things
that you're grieved about, the little things
you're unhappy about, the little things where
you differ with others. See, God can't bless
that kind of vision. That's why when Jesus is
Lord, He's always working on our eyesight. He's
always correcting our vision, getting us to refocus,
refocus, refocus, and we all need that from time
to time, don't we? We just need the Lord continually
to correct our vision. Lord, help me to be looking
at what I ought to be looking at, and not at
those little things. Lord, help me to focus on
the eternal things, the things that matter, Your
grace and what You've done in my life, the gifts
that You've given me to serve You in the body,
the glory that's coming. Lord, help me to focus
on those things. that I share with others. When
we do that, our lives will be much happier in
this world. And Jesus Christ will truly be Lord,
monitoring our lives, leading our lives, filling
our lives, blessing our lives. I wish you could
have sensed the joy of some of those people we
met this week as we encountered. Let me tell
you about another man. His name is Sunday. I
don't know why he's called Sunday, except he's
from Nigeria. And over there, there are people
called Monday and Friday and Tuesday. And I presume
he may have been born on Sunday. Sunday and his
wife, Grace, have been sent by a mission from
Nigeria to Chicago to minister to the 50 ,000
Nigerians who have immigrated to Chicago, many
of whom have never gotten into the culture, who
are still isolated and separated out there. Sunday
and Grace are just filled with joy. Their lives
are shining with Jesus. Sunday challenged me
so deeply this week as he was asked a very pointed
question that he was reluctant to answer. But
our professor said, Sunday, tell these people
about your prayer life. And he tried to dance
around that a little bit. Christians don't dance
a lot, but he danced a little bit. And he was
trying to get around the question. He brought
him back and said, no, tell us about your prayer
life. And he continues the prayer life that he
developed in Nigeria. He gets up at 6 in the
morning and prays till 8. And then in the afternoon,
spends at least another hour in prayer. And his
comment to us, and this was a challenge to me,
he said, I believe that we need to talk to God
more about men. and we talk to men about God.
He's practicing that. You can just see the glory
in his face. That's how God wants all of us to
live. Be focused on those things that really
count. So let's determine by God's grace to walk
that way this week and allow the Lord Jesus to
correct our vision this morning if that needs
to happen. To bring our focus back to where it
needs to be. Let's pray. Well, may the Holy Spirit
just direct each of our response to this message
and show us how we need to have our eyes corrected.
Now the church at Laodicea was a church that
was affluent, materialistic. It thought it had
everything together. And Jesus said, you don't
know that you're blind. Their focus was on the
wrong things. And he says, you buy of me, I save.
What he was saying was, you need what I have.
in order to correct your vision, your eyes are
bad. Would you ask the Lord this morning to correct
your vision, to bring you back to the things
that count, to focus on those things that you
share with other believers instead of where you
differ with them? For we're called into fellowship.
We're called into oneness. We're called to love
each other. Now Lord Jesus, I pray that that
will be our focus. And even as we sing this closing
chorus, I pray that you will help us in our hearts
to do business with you that will make a difference
in how we see things this week. Amen. I'm gonna
ask you just to grab a hand of someone who's
by you, reach across the aisles if you will,
and we'll sing it together. Just join our hands
at the...