For the next couple of months we are going to be exploring Paul\u2019s first letter to the church at Corinth. Well I say first. It\u2019s the first one that we have a copy of in our Bibles. In Chapter 5, verse 9, of this letter, Paul refers to a previous letter that he had written to them, which we no longer have. So, 1 Corinthians is the first of the two that we have copies of, but isn\u2019t actually the first that he wrote to them. This isn\u2019t just nitpicking, it is important to understand that this letter was part of an ongoing conversation, which we are only hearing parts of. Paul also refers to letters that they have sent him, and other reports that he has heard. We don\u2019t have those either, so as we read our way through this letter, and listen to it, we need to bear in mind that we are only hearing one side of the conversation, and whilst we might be able to infer some of the content of the rest of the correspondence, we cannot usually know for sure. <\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s first meeting with the people of Corinth is recorded in Acts 18. He\u2019d arrived there on one of his missionary journeys, direct from Athens. He met some other Christian Jews, Priscilla and Aquila, and set up shop as a tent maker with them. He spread the good news of Jesus, firstly in the synagogues and then amongst the Gentiles in various meeting rooms. His friends Silas and Timothy joined him there, and he stayed for at least 18 months. This was long enough for him to establish a Christian congregation rather than just to win a few converts. It was also long enough for him to have developed and built strong relationships with those who made up this congregation. <\/p>\n
What about Corinth itself? What was this place? What was it like? There had been a town called Corinth in this area of Greece for centuries. It was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and then a new city was built, by the Romans, also called Corinth, in the same area. This city was founded in 44 B.C. The reason that the Romans wanted a settlement here was because it was strategically important at the cross roads of key trade routes. By the time Paul got there it had displaced Athens as the most politically important city in the region, and was the provincial capital from which the Roman governor ruled. As a fairly new city, on a trade route it had a wide variety of inhabitants \u2013 Greeks, Romans, and Jews. There were many people passing through, bringing all kinds of new religious and philosophical ides. One thing that had carried over from the original Corinth was a reputation for notorious immorality.<\/p>\n
It is in this melting pot that Paul had founded a church, made up of Jews and Gentiles \u2013 Romans and Greeks. With the pressures of commerce and temptations all around in the surrounding culture. Paul had been gone from Corinth for a while. There had been a few letters back and forth, he\u2019d heard about some things that were going on, and now he decides to write to them again, and in this first section he sets out his motivation for writing this letter. <\/p>\n
His core motivation can be seen as we look at the first 9 verses: all but one of them include the word, \u201cChrist\u201d. Sometimes that title is accompanied by the name Jesus, sometimes not, sometimes Paul includes, \u201cLord\u201d, sometimes not, sometimes all three are there. The point is that Paul is focussed on Jesus, and particularly on Jesus as the Christ, the chosen one of God, the one anointed by God to bring salvation and rescue to the world in fufilment of the promises of the Old Testament, and on Jesus as Lord, the one who rightly commands our lives. Everything else Paul says in the whole letter is about calling the Corinthian Christians towards the Lord, Jesus Christ. And not just the Christians in the church at Corinth. At the end of verse 2 we read this, \u201ctogether with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d \u201cAll those everywhere\u201d – doesn\u2019t that include us? Paul did write this letter to a specific group of Christians in a specific place, facing specific issues, but he also had a wider view, a more general application, one that includes us, here in Wellington in 2019. <\/p>\n
Building on his foundational motivation of pointing us to Jesus, it seems to me that there are three themes that we can pull out from these opening verses which we can helpfully explore and reflect on for our own lives. These are the themes of holiness, thankfulness, and unity. <\/p>\n
We have already noted that Corinth was infamous for its culture of immorality and unholiness. As the letter develops we will see some of the ways in which this culture seemed to have infected the church in Corinth, and how Paul calls the Christians to resist this and to live holy lives. This call begins early, as early as verse 2, where Paul addresses his friends as, \u201cthose sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people.\u201d In this Paul is reminding his readers of what Jesus has already done for them, Jesus has made them holy. That is what \u201csanctified\u201d means. <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know about you, but I know that I am not, of myself, very holy. I get angry, I want things other people have, I\u2019m ungrateful, I lie. Paul knew himself, he knew what people were like. He knew that when people become Christians they don\u2019t become perfect. In all of our lives there is an ongoing work of being more holy, of being sanctified. This is one of the things that the Holy Spirit does in our lives. But Paul still says that those who are Christians have been sanctified in Christ. How can this be? That word, \u201cin\u201d is really important. Somehow, when we become Christians, we are included in Christ. And we know that Jesus is completely holy, completely perfect. So, if we are in Christ, when God looks at us he sees Jesus\u2019 holiness and righteousness, our sin is forgiven and we are judged holy. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, this is our real identity. That is who we really are. The parts of us that continue to sin, and succumb to temptation, and are unholy, are not who we really are, they are not our true identity. As the Holy Spirit works in our lives we are more and more released into living out of our true, holy, selves. As we shall discover in the coming weeks this can be a long and difficult process, but it is one that we are called to continue persisting in, as those who called to be God\u2019s holy people. <\/p>\n
So, that\u2019s holiness. What about thankfulness?<\/p>\n
We find this in verses 4-10. \u201cI always thank my God for you\u2026\u201d This is Paul\u2019s default position. We find it again and again in his letters, he is thankful. But what is he thankful for? What do we find as we read through? \u201cBecause of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.\u201d Paul is thankful for the riches of God poured out on those who don\u2019t deserve it, and again we have that phrase, \u201cin Christ Jesus.\u201d And what examples of grace do we find in the following verses? – speech and knowledge, spiritual gifts. God\u2019s faithfulness to keep the Corinthians firm to the end, when they will be found blameless (there\u2019s an overlap with the holiness theme). A call to fellowship (an overlap with the unity theme we\u2019re going to talk about in a moment). Paul is grateful for the work of God in the past, the gifts of God in the present, and the promises of God for the future. <\/p>\n
A creatures living in time, it is tricky for us to get the right balance of perspective on the past, the present and the future. If we\u2019re not careful we end up living too much in one, without adequate regard for the others. Some folk live in the past, despising the present, and fearing the future. Some live in the present, forgetting the blessings of the past and careless of the future. Others live in the future, oblivious to the past, and wishing away the present. God is the God of all time, of the past, the present and the future. God has saved us, is living in us, and will hold us firm. Whatever else we feel about our lives, these are foundational truths for those who are in Christ, and they are things for which we can be grateful for God, and which can help us to live balanced lives. <\/p>\n
So, that is holiness and thankfulness. What about unity?<\/p>\n
It is fairly obvious from verses 10 to 17 that there is a problem with unity in the Corinthian church.
\nThe problem is that there isn\u2019t any, or at least, not nearly enough. It seems fairly clear that the members of the church have picked a \u201cfavourite\u201d apostle and got themselves into little cliques. There\u2019s no suggestion that this had been encouraged by the apostles themselves, but somehow the church had started splitting into little factional groups and quarrelling over who was the best apostle. Paul is in such a tizz about this that he can\u2019t even remember who he baptised. For Paul unity is one of the most important signs of the kingdom. Paul took seriously what Jesus said when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane for those who would come to believe, \u201cthat they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul took it so seriously that he sets the bar pretty high. He asks his readers should, \u201call agree \u2026 there be no divisions \u2026 be perfectly united in mind and thought\u201d We know that Paul didn\u2019t even live up to this council of perfection himself, there are plenty of accounts of him having arguments, disputes and falling out with friends like Barnabas, John Mark, and Peter. <\/p>\n
Having said that, just because something seems difficult and we know that we have failed at achieving it in the past, doesn\u2019t mean that we shouldn\u2019t aim for it. And when we do disagree to do so well, without quarrelling, back biting or gossiping. <\/p>\n
There are a lot of us in All Saints, we have a number of congregations, and we have a variety of projects going on. It would be surprising if we all had exactly the same priorities, the same preferences, the same ideas. What is really important is what we do about those differences. One of the ways in which we seek to foster unity is by having \u201cloving each other\u201d as one of our values. As part of this we value forgiving, humility, kindness, being encouraging, listening and talking to each other and not about each other. I believe that as we live out these values, even and especially when we disagree, so we will grow in unity and holiness and we will find more and more to be thankful to God for, in our Lord, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the next couple of months we are going to be exploring Paul\u2019s first letter to the church at Corinth. Well I say first. It\u2019s the first one that we have a copy of in our Bibles. In Chapter 5, verse 9, of this letter, Paul refers to a previous letter that he had written […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[431],"tags":[1029,502,520,1028,571,23,43],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wellington","tag-1-corinthians-11-17","tag-corinth","tag-holiness","tag-revelation-221-5","tag-thankfulness","tag-unity","tag-vision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}