WEBVTT 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:04.200 this last week's privilege to be a part of a 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.519 class at the Moody Graduate School that was called 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:11.460 the Biblical Theology of Missions. As part of 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:15.980 the week, we took a field trip to see three ministries 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:20.100 in Chicago that are ministering in mission -type 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:24.640 settings. One of them was to a church ministering 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.519 to the Mexican community west of downtown Chicago. 00:00:29.870 --> 00:00:32.929 in an area called the Little Village or La Vejita. 00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:38.409 In that two and a half square mile area, 100 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:43.590 ,000 Mexicans live. And there's a vibrant church 00:00:43.590 --> 00:00:46.030 that has been planted there now for several years 00:00:46.030 --> 00:00:51.310 called the La Vejita Community Church. It is 00:00:51.310 --> 00:00:56.009 a wonderful example of the power of God moving 00:00:56.009 --> 00:00:59.210 in a whole community as Hundreds of people have 00:00:59.210 --> 00:01:02.390 come to faith in Christ, and as part of that, 00:01:02.469 --> 00:01:05.530 they have a vision of developing their community 00:01:05.530 --> 00:01:07.489 and doing lots of interesting things to go into. 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:10.969 As we were driving through that region, though, 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:13.650 we crossed some tracks, some railroad tracks, 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:16.469 and literally on the other side of the tracks, 00:01:16.629 --> 00:01:19.790 you enter a new community. It's called the Lawndale 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:25.420 Community. As completely as the community to 00:01:25.420 --> 00:01:27.680 the south is Mexican, the community on the other 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.000 side of the tracks to the north is African -American. 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:35.319 The community on the south is filled with violence 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:37.719 and gangs. That is not so in the African -American 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:40.560 community on the north. However, there is no 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.200 love lost between the two communities. Indeed, 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.700 there's a lot of hatred and hostility between 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:49.700 the blacks and the Mexicans there on the west 00:01:49.700 --> 00:01:53.239 side of Chicago. But in that Lawndale community, 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:57.579 there is another church similar to La Veita Community 00:01:57.579 --> 00:01:59.719 Church. It's called the Lawndale Community Church. 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:02.400 It's been there a number of years longer than 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.519 the Mexican church. It too has a philosophy of 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.120 developing the community and doing lots of interesting 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.960 things and reaching out to the people in their 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.060 African -American community. They have, for example, 00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:17.300 a medical clinic there that has 21 full -time 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:22.009 medical people who are functioning just like 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:26.050 any other medical clinic in a community, except 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:30.389 their services are for the most part free. And 00:02:30.389 --> 00:02:32.129 every week they are ministering to thousands 00:02:32.129 --> 00:02:33.830 of people who come through there and sharing 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:36.569 the gospel with them. One of the neat things 00:02:36.569 --> 00:02:39.110 that's happening is that the La Veita Community 00:02:39.110 --> 00:02:44.189 Church and the Lawndale Community Church are 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:48.069 beginning to do things together. And our pattern 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:52.080 to that whole area of Chicago, what it is like 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:57.039 to see people who are one in Jesus Christ who 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:59.219 come out of lots of different kinds of backgrounds. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:04.159 In this particular case, a lot of Latin background 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.539 and African -American background coming together 00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:08.659 as one in Jesus Christ and they're doing things 00:03:08.659 --> 00:03:11.860 together to show to everyone what kind of hope 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:14.120 there is in Christ and the reconciliation that 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:17.199 he brings in relationships. and how that though 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.199 they are very different in many ways, they are 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.539 still one in Him. You know, that was the testimony, 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.139 that was the witness of the early church as well. 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:28.639 And we see that in the city of Corinth, where 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:30.360 we're going to be studying for the next several 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.379 months, as people were brought out of lots of 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:35.159 different kinds of backgrounds, as we'll see 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:37.780 as we work through the book. But coming out of 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.180 those diverse backgrounds, they evidenced a unity 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:43.560 and a oneness, a fellowship in Jesus Christ. 00:03:43.930 --> 00:03:45.870 And that's what we think about this morning as 00:03:45.870 --> 00:03:48.370 we turn to the first nine verses of chapter one. 00:03:48.389 --> 00:03:51.090 We think about the fellowship that they enjoyed 00:03:51.090 --> 00:03:56.169 in God's church. Now, Paul went to the city of 00:03:56.169 --> 00:03:58.770 Corinth on his second of three missionary journeys. 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:03.229 While he and his party were in the city of Troas 00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:05.370 waiting for the Lord to give them direction, 00:04:05.469 --> 00:04:07.889 he had what is called the Macedonian vision. 00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:11.490 At night, a man from Macedonia appeared to him 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:14.069 in a vision and said, come over and help us. 00:04:15.310 --> 00:04:18.089 As a result of that, the apostle Paul left Troas, 00:04:18.170 --> 00:04:21.430 which is located in Asia Minor, and obviously 00:04:21.430 --> 00:04:24.930 is on the continent of Asia, and crossed the 00:04:24.930 --> 00:04:30.389 Aegean Sea into the European continent. It would 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:34.850 be nearly impossible to overstate the significance 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:37.230 of that little journey and that direction of 00:04:37.230 --> 00:04:42.649 the gospel in world history. For because the 00:04:42.649 --> 00:04:44.730 Apostle Paul entered into the Europe with the 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:48.350 gospel, the European continent eventually became 00:04:48.350 --> 00:04:52.430 largely Christian, in at least a cultural sense. 00:04:53.089 --> 00:04:55.949 And that has impacted our own culture 2 ,000 00:04:55.949 --> 00:05:00.740 years later. When the Apostle crossed over the 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:02.839 Aegean Sea, he first went to Philippi and you 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:04.540 know the story of what happened there and how 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:07.379 he was thrown into jail with Silas. At midnight 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:11.579 they were singing and praising God and an earthquake 00:05:11.579 --> 00:05:13.920 happened and the jailer came in. He said, what 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.040 must I do to be saved? They said believe on the 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.220 Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that story. But 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:21.800 it wasn't long before they left Philippi and 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:26.000 went on to the city of Thessalonica and then 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.079 to Berea. While they were in Berea, some of the 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.639 Jews who were violently opposed to them in Thessalonica 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:36.220 came to Berea and forced them to move on to Athens. 00:05:37.379 --> 00:05:39.639 And there, Paul stood on Mars Hill and gave that 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:43.699 tremendous address in Acts chapter 17. From there, 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.920 he journeyed on westward about 50 miles to the 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.639 city of Corinth. Now, the picture that David 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.139 presented last week to you is a wonderful picture 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:56.300 of what Corinth was like. It was a major commercial 00:05:56.300 --> 00:06:00.089 center. It had routes that went through it and 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:03.230 also had two major ports, one on the Adriatic 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:06.009 Sea to the north and another on the Aegean Sea 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:10.949 to the east. There was a lot of commerce in this 00:06:10.949 --> 00:06:13.129 city of people coming and going from all over 00:06:13.129 --> 00:06:17.730 the then known world. In addition to that, Corinth 00:06:17.730 --> 00:06:23.589 was a religious city and center. It had two patron 00:06:23.589 --> 00:06:26.819 deities. One of them was Poseidon. who is the 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:30.360 god of the sea in Roman mythology is called Neptune. 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:33.980 And the other was the goddess that David mentioned 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:38.120 last week, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, of 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:42.899 sexual, sensual love, called Venus in the Roman 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:48.199 mythology. In this city, there was a temple that 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:53.459 was very large and dedicated to Aphrodite. The 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:56.120 worship there was very sensual. There were a 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:59.899 thousand prostitutes involved in that pagan worship. 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:06.060 And it was such a major impact in Corinth that 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:09.480 some of the Christians were still dealing years 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:16.139 later with the leftovers in their lives of that 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:18.660 sort of worship. And we'll see that as we work 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:23.560 through the book. So morally corrupt. was the 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:28.139 culture of Corinth that there was a verb that 00:07:28.139 --> 00:07:31.959 was made out of the name. And in that day, the 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:36.800 verb to Corinthianize meant to live a very sensual, 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.399 licentious, promiscuous, immoral kind of life. 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.379 This letter that we're going to be studying was 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:47.000 written several years after Paul was there. It 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:51.720 was written from the city of Ephesus. The date 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:56.759 of the writing is probably 55 or 56 AD, near 00:07:56.759 --> 00:08:00.240 the end of Paul's three -year stay in the city 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:04.220 of Ephesus. It was written because Paul had received 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:08.019 some specific questions from people in the city 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:10.959 of Corinth related to some of the things happening 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.600 in the church and how they were to respond to 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:18.449 that. The people who brought Paul the questions 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:21.870 also delivered their own perspective on things, 00:08:22.389 --> 00:08:25.709 and out of those perspectives and reports that 00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:28.810 they delivered, Paul said some additional things. 00:08:30.050 --> 00:08:32.649 This letter of 1 Corinthians is a letter for 00:08:32.649 --> 00:08:36.690 our day. It is a letter that is relevant to many 00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:39.350 of the concerns and issues that we face in our 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:44.669 world. The society then worshipped The God of 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:52.330 human thinking, human reason, was exalted, and 00:08:52.330 --> 00:08:56.730 it is so in ours. In that society, they bowed 00:08:56.730 --> 00:09:01.610 at the altar of sensual pleasure. Sexuality was 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:06.309 flaunted, as it is in ours. In that society, 00:09:06.490 --> 00:09:09.370 they sought the sensational in their experiences. 00:09:10.169 --> 00:09:12.570 And today, that certainly is the existential 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:15.809 kind of philosophy that our culture is following. 00:09:17.549 --> 00:09:20.450 In addition to that, the church was rather affluent 00:09:20.450 --> 00:09:25.789 and materialistic. It was desirous of the world's 00:09:25.789 --> 00:09:30.809 acceptance. It was apostolic in what it believed, 00:09:30.889 --> 00:09:33.690 but it was conformist in how it behaved. In other 00:09:33.690 --> 00:09:35.710 words, they said, we believe what the Apostle 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:38.009 Paul preached. We believe what Peter preached. 00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:40.139 But they didn't live like it. They lived like 00:09:40.139 --> 00:09:43.799 the devil. It was a church, therefore, that was 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:47.179 beset by problems. There were divisions in the 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:50.279 church. There was carnal living. There was immorality. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.360 There was the lack of commitment to marriage. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:56.259 There were disagreements over what Christians 00:09:56.259 --> 00:10:00.740 can or cannot do related to the cultural practices 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:04.840 of the city. There were problems regarding spiritual 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:08.460 gifts, not to mention confusion in the church. 00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:12.750 over the doctrine of the resurrection. And so 00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:16.129 in this epistle, the Apostle Paul is largely 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:19.129 intending to correct and to instruct them. But 00:10:19.129 --> 00:10:23.730 before he corrects them, he commends them. And 00:10:23.730 --> 00:10:26.830 he reassures them of God's faithfulness to them 00:10:26.830 --> 00:10:30.309 as a church, despite their questions, despite 00:10:30.309 --> 00:10:32.750 their confusion, and despite their problems. 00:10:33.389 --> 00:10:36.990 God is faithful. That's why he's able to give 00:10:36.990 --> 00:10:39.639 thanks. not because of the way they were living 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:43.159 necessarily, but because God is faithful to His 00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:47.100 people. And so I begin reading in verse 1 of 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:52.220 1 Corinthians 1. Paul called an apostle of Jesus 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:56.759 Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes our brother 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:02.120 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.120 those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:10.639 saints by calling. With all who in every place 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.919 call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.340 Lord and ours Grace to you and peace from God 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:22.940 our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I Thank 00:11:22.940 --> 00:11:26.740 my God always concerning you For the grace of 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:29.639 God which was given you in Christ Jesus That 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:33.059 in everything you were enriched in him in all 00:11:33.059 --> 00:11:35.759 speech and all knowledge even as the testimony 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:40.309 concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:43.289 you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly 00:11:43.289 --> 00:11:46.789 the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:50.429 shall also confirm you to the end blameless in 00:11:50.429 --> 00:11:54.470 the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful 00:11:54.470 --> 00:11:56.710 through whom you were called into fellowship 00:11:56.710 --> 00:12:01.429 through his Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:08.000 through whom you were called into, he says. God's 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:13.100 church comprises people. People who are imperfect, 00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:18.600 but nonetheless who are in fellowship. He says 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.000 you, you Corinthians, some of you who are living 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.399 like the devil, some of you who are gossiping 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.580 and talking behind others backs, some of you 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:29.639 who are picking favorites as to who you're going 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.159 to follow, whether it's me or Paul, whether it's 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:35.750 me or Peter or Paulus or someone else. You people 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:38.909 are confused over what you believe. You who are 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:40.730 going to court against one another. He says, 00:12:40.889 --> 00:12:44.549 all of you, despite all of these things, though 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:49.490 you're imperfect, you were called into fellowship 00:12:49.490 --> 00:12:56.490 with Jesus Christ. The word fellowship is koinonia. 00:12:56.570 --> 00:13:01.450 It means to share in common, to share in common. 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.299 We're going to find that the idea of fellowship 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:10.019 is a key idea in this whole book. They were called 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:18.879 into sharing with one another Jesus Christ, despite 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:23.559 the differences that exist among believers, some 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:25.639 of which are legitimate and some of which are 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:30.639 sinful. You also, if you believe in Jesus Christ, 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:34.679 share important things in common with others. 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:41.259 What I want to urge you to do today is to learn 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:45.759 to live with your focus on those things that 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.879 you have in common with others rather than on 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:53.320 the differences. Oh, it makes such a difference 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:56.759 in how you live. There are some Christians who 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:01.220 like to focus on the negative things. They like 00:14:01.220 --> 00:14:04.120 to pick at the things where there are differences 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:08.759 with other believers. And those things become 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:12.120 the pivot around which their whole lives revolve. 00:14:13.059 --> 00:14:17.799 That is not the will of God. There will always 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:20.240 be differences among the people of God. Some 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.659 of them will be legitimate and some of them will 00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:27.490 be sinful. that we are called upon to be in fellowship, 00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:32.789 to share together in common those things that 00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:36.330 we have in Christ. Therefore we need to learn 00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:40.929 to focus on those things that we have in common. 00:14:43.129 --> 00:14:46.090 What do you share in common with others in God's 00:14:46.090 --> 00:14:52.289 Church? If you and I will learn what those things 00:14:52.289 --> 00:14:56.019 are, and will come to focus on them, then we 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:58.519 will truly be in fellowship with the saints. 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.460 There will still be the distinctives and the 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:05.200 differences, but we will be in fellowship because 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.700 we are focusing on those things that we share 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:12.860 in Jesus Christ. What do you share as one who 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:16.059 is in fellowship with the saints of God in Jesus 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:19.700 Christ? The first thing that Paul seems to talk 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:23.039 about in this This paragraph that we've read 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:27.159 is that you share in His grace verses 1 through 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:33.700 4. Now remember that God's grace is His undeserved 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:38.960 kindness that is expressed in some action on 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:44.080 your behalf. It is God doing something in your 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.500 life that you don't deserve. That's His grace. 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:52.509 What has He done? to show His grace to you. Well, 00:15:52.549 --> 00:15:54.529 the Apostle points to three things. First of 00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:58.149 all, He's called you out. He's called you out. 00:15:58.350 --> 00:16:01.470 That's the first act of grace. He's called you 00:16:01.470 --> 00:16:06.750 out of the world to belong to Him for some special 00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:11.730 purpose. In verse 2, He speaks of us as the Church. 00:16:11.809 --> 00:16:15.570 The very name Church means the called out ones. 00:16:16.770 --> 00:16:20.110 Over and over again you see the word call or 00:16:20.110 --> 00:16:25.250 calling in these verses. We are called into fellowship. 00:16:26.809 --> 00:16:29.230 The emphasis is that you and I have been appointed 00:16:29.230 --> 00:16:33.889 by God's grace to a new relationship. We have 00:16:33.889 --> 00:16:37.629 been called out by God from our past relationship 00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:42.450 to the world to be related to God's Son and to 00:16:42.450 --> 00:16:47.620 be related to one another. Because God has called 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:54.740 us out, we therefore have called upon the name 00:16:54.740 --> 00:17:00.100 of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 2. Which comes 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:03.299 first, God's calling to us or our calling upon 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:07.319 the Lord? The answer is that those two occur 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:09.980 quite close together, but the fact is that God's 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:13.589 calling comes to us first. Theologians call it 00:17:13.589 --> 00:17:16.269 the efficacious call of God. It is that call 00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:20.250 of God that cannot be resisted. It is His work 00:17:20.250 --> 00:17:23.150 in our hearts to open our eyes to our sin, to 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:26.250 make us see our need of Christ. And as a result 00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:28.430 of that, in an awareness of the gospel that He 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:31.670 presses into our minds, we call upon the name 00:17:31.670 --> 00:17:35.450 of the Lord for salvation. We reach out to Him. 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:42.440 James says in Acts chapter 15, Simon has described 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:45.500 to us how God at first showed his concern by 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:49.599 taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.240 In that brief sentence, he really summarizes 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:58.140 all that God is doing this whole age. God is 00:17:58.140 --> 00:18:01.859 about the work of taking out a people from the 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:05.140 world for his name, calling us out to belong 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:08.109 to him. Peter puts it this way, you are a chosen 00:18:08.109 --> 00:18:11.029 people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a 00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:14.609 people belonging to God. That you may declare 00:18:14.609 --> 00:18:18.910 the praises of Him who called you out of darkness 00:18:18.910 --> 00:18:22.890 into His wonderful light. Here's who you are 00:18:22.890 --> 00:18:27.910 because God has called you out. My friend, you 00:18:27.910 --> 00:18:30.509 share that with other believers. That is the 00:18:30.509 --> 00:18:35.529 work of God's grace in your life. There's a second 00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:37.809 work the Apostle points to besides the fact that 00:18:37.809 --> 00:18:40.170 God has called us out. He says he set you apart 00:18:40.170 --> 00:18:44.470 in verse 2 He says to those who have been sanctified 00:18:44.470 --> 00:18:46.910 in Christ Jesus. That's what the word sanctified 00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:52.009 means to be set apart We are saints The sanctifying 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:54.509 work of the Spirit is not some secondary work 00:18:54.509 --> 00:18:58.730 of grace It is a primary work and it occurs simultaneously 00:18:58.730 --> 00:19:01.900 with our calling The very moment that God called 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:05.799 us to faith in Jesus Christ, He also sanctified 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.799 us or set us apart. He cleansed us and He washed 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:13.140 us and set us apart to a new and holy purpose. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:18.599 And that purpose is in Christ Jesus. That speaks 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:20.980 to a new identity that we have. We've been set 00:19:20.980 --> 00:19:26.059 apart to a new identity as those who are in Christ 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:29.859 Jesus, no longer in the world, but in Christ 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:35.599 Jesus. Jesus. You share that with others in the 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:40.220 fellowship. You share God's grace, His grace 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:43.099 calling you out, His grace setting you apart. 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:46.279 But there is a third act of grace that He points 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:48.559 to, and that is again in verse 2 where He says 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.079 that we have been joined together. He's called 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:54.940 you out, He sets you apart, and He's joined you 00:19:54.940 --> 00:20:00.930 together with all who in every place. He says 00:20:00.930 --> 00:20:05.190 call upon the name of the Lord This Lord who 00:20:05.190 --> 00:20:10.630 is their Lord and ours This speaks to a new association 00:20:10.630 --> 00:20:14.529 that we have Before we were associated with those 00:20:14.529 --> 00:20:16.670 who are of the world who were traveling with 00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:20.529 us on the way to hell The destiny of all who 00:20:20.529 --> 00:20:24.220 are ungodly and unbelieving But God called us 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:26.960 out, He set us apart, and now He has joined us 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.220 together with others in a new association. It 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:37.160 is the Church of God. Jude points us in the same 00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:39.920 direction when he says, Beloved, while I was 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.500 making every effort to write to you about our 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:47.420 common salvation. Paul joins him when he says, 00:20:47.579 --> 00:20:52.799 To Titus, my true child in a common faith. This 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.859 word common doesn't mean that it's cheap. It 00:20:57.859 --> 00:21:01.779 means it's something that is shared together. 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:06.420 We share it in common. It is a common salvation, 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:10.619 a common faith. And so Peter says this in 2 Peter 00:21:10.619 --> 00:21:14.279 1 .1, Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:16.880 of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:23.279 faith of the same kind as ours. a faith of the 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:29.440 same kind as ours. That's what's holding that 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:31.799 fellowship of those two churches together on 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.420 the west side of Chicago. Because they see whether 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:39.140 they are Mexicans or they're blacks, that in 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:42.700 Jesus Christ, God has called them out and set 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.900 them apart and joined them together. And though 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:48.059 they may even fellowship in different churches 00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:51.309 and have different styles, of worship which they 00:21:51.309 --> 00:21:54.710 do, and they may be involved in different sorts 00:21:54.710 --> 00:21:57.210 of ministry which they are, they are nonetheless 00:21:57.210 --> 00:22:00.109 joined together because they have received a 00:22:00.109 --> 00:22:04.589 faith of the same kind. Literally what Peter 00:22:04.589 --> 00:22:08.069 says there is, to the ones having obtained equally 00:22:08.069 --> 00:22:13.730 precious faith with us. Equally precious faith. 00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:16.690 It means it's faith that has the same privileges. 00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:21.599 And so we belong to a new order and the body, 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:25.279 the Church of God. So these are the wonderful 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.759 works of God that we share and which we need 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:33.059 to focus on. Because of these works of God's 00:22:33.059 --> 00:22:35.559 grace, we have a new relationship, we have a 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:38.039 new identity, we have a new association that 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:41.019 we're a part of. You could summarize all of that 00:22:41.019 --> 00:22:46.579 in that phrase, the Church of God. Now, Paul 00:22:46.579 --> 00:22:49.619 elaborates upon these works of God's grace in 00:22:49.619 --> 00:22:51.819 the rest of the book, and I hope that you'll 00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:54.720 join us as we work our way through verse by verse 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:57.599 in the book of 1 Corinthians. And we continue 00:22:57.599 --> 00:22:59.799 to understand what these things mean that God 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:03.859 has done, this new relationship, and this new 00:23:03.859 --> 00:23:06.059 identity, and the ramifications of it, and the 00:23:06.059 --> 00:23:08.859 new association, what that means, therefore, 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:12.079 in our lives. This morning, we need to press 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.970 on to see what else we share. in Jesus Christ 00:23:16.970 --> 00:23:22.589 besides His grace. Paul in verses five through 00:23:22.589 --> 00:23:24.809 seven, the first part of verse seven says that 00:23:24.809 --> 00:23:30.430 we likewise share in His gifts, in His gifts. 00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:35.990 He says that in everything you were enriched 00:23:35.990 --> 00:23:41.609 in Him in all speech and knowledge. Verse seven, 00:23:41.630 --> 00:23:46.849 so that you are not lacking in any gift. We share 00:23:46.849 --> 00:23:50.109 in the gifts of Jesus Christ. Now there's some 00:23:50.109 --> 00:23:53.210 questions I want to ask about these gifts that 00:23:53.210 --> 00:23:55.309 I hope will help us understand these verses. 00:23:55.990 --> 00:24:00.049 The first is, what are these gifts? Well the 00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:05.630 word gift here is charisma. If you have ever 00:24:05.630 --> 00:24:08.150 heard the word for grace in the New Testament, 00:24:08.490 --> 00:24:11.410 caris, you see that it comes right out of that 00:24:11.410 --> 00:24:16.840 word. These are the grace gifts. They are Empowerments 00:24:16.840 --> 00:24:21.559 that the Spirit of God gives to us to serve Jesus 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:27.380 in the body and in our world. The charisma of 00:24:27.380 --> 00:24:33.940 God, the gifts. It is a grace given ability to 00:24:33.940 --> 00:24:37.779 serve the Lord and he points to two general categories. 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:41.539 He talks about those things dealing with speech 00:24:41.539 --> 00:24:46.660 and those with knowledge. He says, God has gifted 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.140 you for the preaching of the truth and for the 00:24:49.140 --> 00:24:51.380 apprehending of the truth. You don't lack anything. 00:24:55.059 --> 00:24:58.579 Every church has the gifts that it needs in the 00:24:58.579 --> 00:25:03.240 body. I'm convinced of that. I believe that God 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:09.400 the Holy Spirit gifts us with what we need. And 00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:12.220 if there are lack, it's because we are not using 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:14.599 those gifts. We are not either coming forward 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:18.680 to use them, or we are not serving in areas where 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:23.819 we're gifted. God the Holy Spirit gives to a 00:25:23.819 --> 00:25:27.119 church the gifts that it needs to carry out God's 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.359 purpose and God's will for that church. That's 00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:33.779 what the gifts are. A second question we might 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:37.440 ask is, when are these gifts given? Because we 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.619 are being told by some these days that we need 00:25:39.619 --> 00:25:43.720 to ask for the gifts But here the language says 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:46.700 that those gifts came to us at the moment of 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:51.400 salvation He says you were enriched in him the 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.940 tenths of that verb points to the past it says 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:59.240 this happened in the past at one one time And 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:02.460 so there at that moment of salvation God gifted 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:06.380 to you and to me what we are able to do in the 00:26:06.380 --> 00:26:10.440 body of Christ. We receive at that moment our 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:12.539 empowerment. We don't have to seek additional 00:26:12.539 --> 00:26:15.700 gifts. We simply need to discover the gifts that 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:19.119 God has already given us inside. Very likely 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.460 most of us have not discovered all of those gifts. 00:26:23.539 --> 00:26:26.440 We need to discover how God has gifted us and 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:28.619 used those gifts in the body. They were given 00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:32.750 to us at the moment of our salvation. And by 00:26:32.750 --> 00:26:34.930 the way, those gifts that I'm talking about, 00:26:34.970 --> 00:26:39.809 those are the true wealth of a church. A church 00:26:39.809 --> 00:26:41.890 is not wealthy because of what it has in the 00:26:41.890 --> 00:26:44.690 bank or what its annual budget is. A church is 00:26:44.690 --> 00:26:47.190 not wealthy because of its missions dollars given. 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:51.809 A church is wealthy because of the gifts that 00:26:51.809 --> 00:26:55.730 God has invested in its people. He points to 00:26:55.730 --> 00:26:58.950 that when He says, you were enriched in Him. 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:02.500 You were enriched in Him. You were made wealthy, 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:06.680 He says literally, in Him by the gifts that were 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:09.539 given you. And that answers the question of where 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:11.740 these gifts came from because it says they came 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:15.039 to us by Him, by Christ. He's the head of the 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:17.539 church who sovereignly bestows the gifts as we'll 00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:22.339 see in chapters 12, 13, and 14. Now what's the 00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:25.819 result of these gifts being given? Verse 6 is 00:27:25.819 --> 00:27:30.119 an interesting verse. He says, even as the testimony 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:35.039 concerning Christ was confirmed in you. The testimony 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.380 or the witness concerning Christ was what Paul 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:40.559 had preached to them. And he says, the fact that 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:44.680 you have received the witness of Christ is authenticated. 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:48.200 It's confirmed by the fact you have spiritual 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:53.759 gifts. What is Paul saying here? He's saying 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.750 that one of the evidences that a person is genuinely 00:27:56.750 --> 00:27:59.170 saved is the presence of spiritual gifts in his 00:27:59.170 --> 00:28:04.109 life. The Spirit of God's presence, his empowerment 00:28:04.109 --> 00:28:06.430 is obvious because of the gifts that are there. 00:28:06.690 --> 00:28:09.529 If there are no gifts, then that person is obviously 00:28:09.529 --> 00:28:13.710 not a believer, is what he's saying. The testimony 00:28:13.710 --> 00:28:17.369 about Jesus Christ is confirmed in us by the 00:28:17.369 --> 00:28:20.509 presence of these gifts by which Christ has enriched 00:28:20.509 --> 00:28:24.950 the body. And so you, if you are a believer in 00:28:24.950 --> 00:28:27.910 Jesus Christ, share in the goodness of the Spirit, 00:28:29.049 --> 00:28:33.589 unless you're not genuinely saved. What this 00:28:33.589 --> 00:28:36.690 tells us is that even carnal believers have gifts. 00:28:38.269 --> 00:28:41.890 They may be unused, they may be abused, but even 00:28:41.890 --> 00:28:48.029 carnal believers have gifts. Paul is excited. 00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:51.089 He thanks God for this fact that the gifts are 00:28:51.089 --> 00:28:53.430 evident in them that they have been enriched 00:28:53.430 --> 00:28:56.250 They've been made wealthy because that shows 00:28:56.250 --> 00:28:59.890 that his ministry there was Genuine that is being 00:28:59.890 --> 00:29:04.589 authenticated by the gifts being present in the 00:29:04.589 --> 00:29:10.069 church Now you share in the gifts of Jesus Christ 00:29:10.069 --> 00:29:13.660 in his body If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, 00:29:13.700 --> 00:29:16.220 you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Focus 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:19.339 on that. Focus on the fact that you have these 00:29:19.339 --> 00:29:23.019 empowerments, these abilities. Don't focus on 00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:25.160 the differences between your gifts and others, 00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:27.660 or your opinions and others, but focus on the 00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:30.000 fact, look, I'm gifted, and because of my gifts, 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.319 I have certain perspectives, and I'm going to 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:38.359 bring those perspectives to any discussion. But 00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:40.500 because someone else is gifted differently and 00:29:40.500 --> 00:29:42.339 has different perspectives doesn't mean that 00:29:42.339 --> 00:29:45.519 he's wrong and I'm right Or that he's right and 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:47.980 I'm wrong. It simply means we're gifted differently 00:29:47.980 --> 00:29:53.519 But we share these gifts and we need each other 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:57.000 Focus on the fact that you share in the gifts 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:01.180 of Christ That brings us to the last thing that 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:04.160 Paul focuses on here is what we share in Christ 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.650 and that is we share in his glory Verses seven 00:30:07.650 --> 00:30:11.990 and eight talk about that. You share in the glory 00:30:11.990 --> 00:30:16.269 that is coming. He speaks about our anticipation 00:30:16.269 --> 00:30:19.829 of that glory when he talks about the revelation 00:30:19.829 --> 00:30:23.809 of Jesus Christ, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:24.329 --> 00:30:26.990 He speaks of Christ coming here as an apocalypse. 00:30:28.529 --> 00:30:31.390 The word apocalypse means unveiling, the appearing, 00:30:31.750 --> 00:30:36.480 the manifestation of Jesus Christ. The emphasis 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.220 in Paul's mind is on the visibility of that event. 00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:43.640 He says, now Christ's glory is veiled. We can't 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:46.000 see him, nor can the world, but he says there 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.380 is a day coming when the veil is going to be 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:52.140 taken up and his glory will be manifested. He 00:30:52.140 --> 00:30:54.559 talks more about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:59.509 15 when he speaks about the rapture. In chapter 00:30:59.509 --> 00:31:02.190 two, he speaks about the fact that the Lord of 00:31:02.190 --> 00:31:04.710 glory has come. He's been crucified through the 00:31:04.710 --> 00:31:07.349 ignorance of the princes of this world, but what 00:31:07.349 --> 00:31:11.029 they did in ignorance has resulted in our glory, 00:31:11.970 --> 00:31:15.750 our glory. We anticipate the glory that will 00:31:15.750 --> 00:31:18.990 come to us when Jesus returns. He talks about 00:31:18.990 --> 00:31:22.029 our assurance of this anticipation. He says, 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:27.950 who shall confirm you to the end? He says He 00:31:27.950 --> 00:31:33.049 will make you stable. He will establish you until 00:31:33.049 --> 00:31:37.650 God's full purpose is attained in you. And He 00:31:37.650 --> 00:31:40.730 says you will be blameless. That is a legal term. 00:31:41.430 --> 00:31:44.609 In the sight of God, you will be blameless. Literally 00:31:44.609 --> 00:31:49.269 the word means you will not be called in. You 00:31:49.269 --> 00:31:52.309 will not be summoned to court. You will not be 00:31:52.309 --> 00:31:55.890 accused. There will be no legal charge against 00:31:55.890 --> 00:31:59.259 you. in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. What 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:03.099 a blessed assurance that is. How these Corinthians 00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:05.259 need to be reminded of that is they were living, 00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:09.660 some of them, pretty sinfully. But he thanks 00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:11.619 God and he wants to point them in the direction 00:32:11.619 --> 00:32:13.660 of the fact that they have glory coming and that 00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:15.400 day they're going to be blameless in the sight 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:18.619 of God, however blameful they may be at the moment. 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:22.980 He thanks God for this. You know, I can thank 00:32:22.980 --> 00:32:25.200 God for it as well. That we share this glory 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:27.119 and one day all of us are going to be perfect 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:31.359 in the presence of the Lord. And all the imperfections 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:33.819 in the body are going to be gone and we'll be 00:32:33.819 --> 00:32:37.519 completely without spot and blemish in His presence. 00:32:38.420 --> 00:32:40.640 And our attitude about that ought to be what 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:43.400 Paul points to here when he says we eagerly await. 00:32:46.019 --> 00:32:50.569 We eagerly await. the appearance of Jesus Christ. 00:32:52.230 --> 00:32:54.650 He says in Philippians 3 .20, our citizenship 00:32:54.650 --> 00:32:57.089 is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait 00:32:57.089 --> 00:33:02.690 for a savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. You and 00:33:02.690 --> 00:33:07.289 I share a glory that is to come. Should not the 00:33:07.289 --> 00:33:09.869 fact that we're going to share that glory of 00:33:09.869 --> 00:33:13.440 being blameless in His presence? And the fact 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.900 that we'll be together forever, should not that 00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:19.019 cause us to forget our petty differences now 00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:25.220 and to forgive our grievances that we have against 00:33:25.220 --> 00:33:29.279 one another here in this world? It's certainly 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:34.759 ought to. You see how Paul is moving here? Before 00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:38.380 he corrects them, he wants to commend them. And 00:33:38.380 --> 00:33:44.259 he does that. He thanks God for them. He thanks 00:33:44.259 --> 00:33:46.660 God that they are sharers in God's grace. They 00:33:46.660 --> 00:33:49.420 are sharers in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:51.900 They are sharers in the glory that is to come. 00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:55.000 What he's doing here is laying the foundation 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:57.539 for now how he's going to appeal to them, sometimes 00:33:57.539 --> 00:34:02.299 very directly and strongly. Paul thanks God for 00:34:02.299 --> 00:34:06.279 their future. He's not especially grateful for 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.559 their present condition, but he thanks God for 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:12.760 their future. Despite the common things they 00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:14.820 shared, however, they were a church that was 00:34:14.820 --> 00:34:22.579 at war. They were at war. Why was that? Because 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:24.500 although they were the church of God, and though 00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:26.559 they were called into the fellowship of our Lord 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:31.500 Jesus Christ, Jesus was not really Lord of the 00:34:31.500 --> 00:34:35.139 lives of many of those people. Five times in 00:34:35.139 --> 00:34:38.940 these verses we've read, he uses that term Lord. 00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:43.599 Four out of the five, He precedes it with that 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.019 personal preposition, possessive preposition 00:34:47.019 --> 00:34:52.739 that says, our Lord, our Lord. The real question 00:34:52.739 --> 00:34:55.519 is, were they living under the Lordship of Christ? 00:34:55.619 --> 00:35:02.179 And the answer is no in many cases. When Jesus 00:35:02.179 --> 00:35:05.920 Christ is Lord, He corrects our vision. He corrects 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:10.320 our vision of ourselves and of others. And when 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:13.739 He corrects our vision, our focus then is on 00:35:13.739 --> 00:35:17.320 what it should be. On those things that matter 00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:21.219 forever. Not the temporal things about which 00:35:21.219 --> 00:35:24.619 there are differences in the body of Christ. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:29.619 The closing question I have this morning is this. 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:36.599 Which is your life focus? Where you differ with 00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:41.980 other believers? or on what you share with others 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:45.159 in God's church. I can tell you that if you're 00:35:45.159 --> 00:35:47.320 focused on those things where you differ with 00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:51.619 other believers, you're probably a pretty unhappy 00:35:51.619 --> 00:35:55.260 person. And it's evidence that Jesus is not really 00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:58.639 Lord because He calls us to fellowship. He calls 00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:01.719 us to focus on those things that we have together 00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:07.760 in common. So what is your focus today? Are you 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:11.800 a positive Christian who sees those things that 00:36:11.800 --> 00:36:14.280 you share with other believers and you're rejoicing 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:17.960 in that? Or are you a negative Christian who's 00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:20.900 focused on the picky things? The little things 00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:22.679 that you're grieved about, the little things 00:36:22.679 --> 00:36:24.460 you're unhappy about, the little things where 00:36:24.460 --> 00:36:29.400 you differ with others. See, God can't bless 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:32.780 that kind of vision. That's why when Jesus is 00:36:32.780 --> 00:36:37.090 Lord, He's always working on our eyesight. He's 00:36:37.090 --> 00:36:39.530 always correcting our vision, getting us to refocus, 00:36:39.690 --> 00:36:42.269 refocus, refocus, and we all need that from time 00:36:42.269 --> 00:36:45.929 to time, don't we? We just need the Lord continually 00:36:45.929 --> 00:36:48.130 to correct our vision. Lord, help me to be looking 00:36:48.130 --> 00:36:51.349 at what I ought to be looking at, and not at 00:36:51.349 --> 00:36:54.090 those little things. Lord, help me to focus on 00:36:54.090 --> 00:36:57.409 the eternal things, the things that matter, Your 00:36:57.409 --> 00:37:00.070 grace and what You've done in my life, the gifts 00:37:00.070 --> 00:37:02.130 that You've given me to serve You in the body, 00:37:02.630 --> 00:37:05.130 the glory that's coming. Lord, help me to focus 00:37:05.130 --> 00:37:09.519 on those things. that I share with others. When 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:11.599 we do that, our lives will be much happier in 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:15.199 this world. And Jesus Christ will truly be Lord, 00:37:16.179 --> 00:37:19.400 monitoring our lives, leading our lives, filling 00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:24.840 our lives, blessing our lives. I wish you could 00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:28.099 have sensed the joy of some of those people we 00:37:28.099 --> 00:37:32.940 met this week as we encountered. Let me tell 00:37:32.940 --> 00:37:36.460 you about another man. His name is Sunday. I 00:37:36.460 --> 00:37:38.079 don't know why he's called Sunday, except he's 00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:39.960 from Nigeria. And over there, there are people 00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:43.280 called Monday and Friday and Tuesday. And I presume 00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:46.880 he may have been born on Sunday. Sunday and his 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:52.539 wife, Grace, have been sent by a mission from 00:37:52.539 --> 00:37:56.599 Nigeria to Chicago to minister to the 50 ,000 00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:59.860 Nigerians who have immigrated to Chicago, many 00:37:59.860 --> 00:38:02.699 of whom have never gotten into the culture, who 00:38:02.699 --> 00:38:06.409 are still isolated and separated out there. Sunday 00:38:06.409 --> 00:38:10.909 and Grace are just filled with joy. Their lives 00:38:10.909 --> 00:38:15.590 are shining with Jesus. Sunday challenged me 00:38:15.590 --> 00:38:18.769 so deeply this week as he was asked a very pointed 00:38:18.769 --> 00:38:23.329 question that he was reluctant to answer. But 00:38:23.329 --> 00:38:26.289 our professor said, Sunday, tell these people 00:38:26.289 --> 00:38:32.139 about your prayer life. And he tried to dance 00:38:32.139 --> 00:38:34.199 around that a little bit. Christians don't dance 00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:36.380 a lot, but he danced a little bit. And he was 00:38:36.380 --> 00:38:37.880 trying to get around the question. He brought 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:39.420 him back and said, no, tell us about your prayer 00:38:39.420 --> 00:38:42.440 life. And he continues the prayer life that he 00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:44.800 developed in Nigeria. He gets up at 6 in the 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:49.199 morning and prays till 8. And then in the afternoon, 00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:52.420 spends at least another hour in prayer. And his 00:38:52.420 --> 00:38:54.679 comment to us, and this was a challenge to me, 00:38:54.699 --> 00:38:57.800 he said, I believe that we need to talk to God 00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:02.760 more about men. and we talk to men about God. 00:39:03.820 --> 00:39:07.079 He's practicing that. You can just see the glory 00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:11.199 in his face. That's how God wants all of us to 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:15.679 live. Be focused on those things that really 00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:22.539 count. So let's determine by God's grace to walk 00:39:22.539 --> 00:39:26.909 that way this week and allow the Lord Jesus to 00:39:26.909 --> 00:39:29.329 correct our vision this morning if that needs 00:39:29.329 --> 00:39:32.010 to happen. To bring our focus back to where it 00:39:32.010 --> 00:39:40.630 needs to be. Let's pray. Well, may the Holy Spirit 00:39:40.630 --> 00:39:44.429 just direct each of our response to this message 00:39:44.429 --> 00:39:49.849 and show us how we need to have our eyes corrected. 00:39:53.210 --> 00:39:58.449 Now the church at Laodicea was a church that 00:39:58.449 --> 00:40:02.789 was affluent, materialistic. It thought it had 00:40:02.789 --> 00:40:07.969 everything together. And Jesus said, you don't 00:40:07.969 --> 00:40:13.510 know that you're blind. Their focus was on the 00:40:13.510 --> 00:40:17.949 wrong things. And he says, you buy of me, I save. 00:40:22.230 --> 00:40:24.329 What he was saying was, you need what I have. 00:40:24.710 --> 00:40:27.150 in order to correct your vision, your eyes are 00:40:27.150 --> 00:40:32.969 bad. Would you ask the Lord this morning to correct 00:40:32.969 --> 00:40:35.550 your vision, to bring you back to the things 00:40:35.550 --> 00:40:38.630 that count, to focus on those things that you 00:40:38.630 --> 00:40:40.889 share with other believers instead of where you 00:40:40.889 --> 00:40:44.730 differ with them? For we're called into fellowship. 00:40:46.230 --> 00:40:48.670 We're called into oneness. We're called to love 00:40:48.670 --> 00:40:52.769 each other. Now Lord Jesus, I pray that that 00:40:52.769 --> 00:40:56.590 will be our focus. And even as we sing this closing 00:40:56.590 --> 00:41:00.650 chorus, I pray that you will help us in our hearts 00:41:00.650 --> 00:41:04.130 to do business with you that will make a difference 00:41:04.130 --> 00:41:42.630 in how we see things this week. Amen. I'm gonna 00:41:42.630 --> 00:41:44.829 ask you just to grab a hand of someone who's 00:41:44.829 --> 00:41:47.570 by you, reach across the aisles if you will, 00:41:48.389 --> 00:42:05.269 and we'll sing it together. Just join our hands 00:42:05.269 --> 00:42:06.230 at the...